Anyone has a Robot?

[andy04]

I was going through toys on the web for my 12 years old nephew and came across the Robots? I was looking at LEGO?s mindstorm and wowwee?s Robosapien. The former is around 250 and the later is around 200. I was wondering if any ATOTer has any experience with them? Are they worth that kind of money? Is it interesting enough for grownups like me (32) too😱? I saw that they can be interfaced with computers too and can be programmed?

 

[leftyman]

I have a dog.

 

[swtethan]

i had mindstorms 1.5


it was fun, but got boring quickly if you dont have a lot of building imagination. I think I needed more blocks than what it came with.

 

[So]

Mindstorms will be waaay more educational.

 

[irishScott]

Mindstorms 1.0 back in elementary school, with about 5 expansion packs. Fun as hell to play with if (and only if) you've got a good supply of bricks. You can also hack the Master Computer Brick and put all kinds of sh!t on it. My dad and I went through each of the "challenges" and had a ball. From what I've seen of the new Mindstorms, it's even better. Definitely worth it IMO.

Also, another thing you might want to look into is model rocketry. There are small, low assembly Estes rockets that anyone will have fun with. However, they are illegal in some areas, and you need a nice open place in which to shoot them off.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

there are clubs and competitions that are affiliated with Mindstorms/Lego

 

[lobbyone]

WoW

 

[torpid]

I have a roomba, which is similarly priced and can be programmed. I am sure that is useless information to you but thought I would post it anyway.

 

[andy04]

Originally posted by: torpid
I have a roomba, which is similarly priced and can be programmed. I am sure that is useless information to you but thought I would post it anyway.

No its not useless info... I know about it and was considering it too, I saw its video at CES and read about it too. but I will need a humanoid...
BTW how does the roomba work? you get the base and then the extension? so will the base sill vaccume for me?

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
there are clubs and competitions that are affiliated with Mindstorms/Lego

FIRST Lego League FTW!!!
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/

FIRST has created 3 different robot-oriented leagues for varying ages:

1. FLL (FIRST Lego League) is for Elementary - Middle school kids and uses Mindstorms tech

2. VEX is for 8th-Early HS kids (generally speaking) and uses the VEX kit, with more advanced programming and engineering techniques.

3. FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) is for High School students. These are full-fledged, designed from scratch, hardcore robots. You can find more details at my old team's website and FIRST's official page.

http://www.ohsrobotics.org/
http://www.usfirst.org/

<--------------------- Ex-Co-President/Head Programmer of High School FIRST Robotics Team