Legos Robotics System v2.0

[HomeBrewerDude]

I am considering some kind of robotic/programmable build-your-own invention toy for me and my son to work on together....

the Legos Robotics System v2.0 came up first on my google....anyone have any first hand experience with this toy? How about some other type of toy?

My kid is only 4 and 1/2 so I would obviously by doing a lot of the work, but in general he is really into robots right now, and i figure this might be a good way to initiate him into programming.

link

 

[43st]

Let him play pretend with robots for another couple years. Ultimately imagination will be his driving factor in the future... nurture that instead.

 

[Bryophyte]

My son has v1.5. He's had it for 2 or 3 years. You'll have to help him out for quite awhile, but it's really fun for you, too, so it's a good thing to do together. I think it's better than other robotic toys because you can buy a ton of different project kits, and my son tells me that it's also compatible with regular lego and bionicle parts.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: Thera
Let him play pretend with robots for another couple years. Ultimately imagination will be his driving factor in the future... nurture that instead.

Good suggestion, but he is already playing with pretend robots... but he knows they are not the same thing. He really wants to create something that moves or does something. Plus this could be a good father/son activity for weekends.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Programming? Leave the poor kid alone.

 

[OS]

As opposed to maybe some others, kudos for giving your kid something to stimulate his mind. If he has a natural interest, it's best to let him run with it while he is young, when he learns the most.

 

[Cooler]

the box says ages 12 and up unless your kid in programming guru I would have to say no. I have a 1.0 version its kinda fun.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: OS
As opposed to maybe some others, kudos for giving your kid something to stimulate his mind. If he has a natural interest, it's best to let him run with it while he is young, when he learns the most.

He should be building cars and airplanes, not writing basic with green and red blocks.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: Cooler
the box says ages 12 and up unless your kid in programming guru I would have to say no. I have a 1.0 version its kinda fun.

I realize the box says 12+. That is irrelevant since this would be a father/son activity.

What features do you like best about the 1.0?

How reliable are the moving parts?

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: OS
As opposed to maybe some others, kudos for giving your kid something to stimulate his mind. If he has a natural interest, it's best to let him run with it while he is young, when he learns the most.

He should be building cars and airplanes, not writing basic with green and red blocks.

who are you to tell someone else what their kid should be doing.

Like I said, if he has an interest in it, let him run with it.

 

[Cooler]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude

Originally posted by: Cooler
the box says ages 12 and up unless your kid in programming guru I would have to say no. I have a 1.0 version its kinda fun.

I realize the box says 12+. That is irrelevant since this would be a father/son activity.

What features do you like best about the 1.0?

How reliable are the moving parts?

if a part breaks send it back to lego they will send you a new part.

 

[Cheezeit]

The middle school I went to had about 40 kits of the 1.0 version. I was even in the lego league that competed in building robots. THe whole thing was really fun and very educational. You have to program the robot to do everything. In the begining, you can get it working with just time settings (like motor a&c go foreward 2 secs to move the robot forward). But once you get more involved, you can create subroutines, use the light, touch, and rotation sensor, and all kind of other neat things.

Its a really good investment to go ahead and buy one for your kid even if he's kinda young right now. It will probaly help him be more creative and have a better background in robotics.

As for the reliability, the motors and are about the only moving parts and they can be hooked up to many things (gearing, attachments) but nothing has ever broken for me.

Feel free to pm me if you have any more questions, I would be happy to help

 

[thecrecarc]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: OS
As opposed to maybe some others, kudos for giving your kid something to stimulate his mind. If he has a natural interest, it's best to let him run with it while he is young, when he learns the most.

He should be building cars and airplanes, not writing basic with green and red blocks.

qft

 

[Baked]

Hazard, children may mistaken small parts for candy. Why don't you just leave the kid alone, he's not gonna turn into hawkins by watching you build robots. You'll just end up building all the kits for him while he watches.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: Baked
Hazard, children may mistaken small parts for candy. Why don't you just leave the kid alone, he's not gonna turn into hawkins by watching you build robots. You'll just end up building all the kits for him while he watches.

:roll:

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude

Originally posted by: Baked
Hazard, children may mistaken small parts for candy. Why don't you just leave the kid alone, he's not gonna turn into hawkins by watching you build robots. You'll just end up building all the kits for him while he watches.

:roll:

heh, I can see why the mods think the collective IQ and mindset of ATOT has turned into a cesspool.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: OS
As opposed to maybe some others, kudos for giving your kid something to stimulate his mind. If he has a natural interest, it's best to let him run with it while he is young, when he learns the most.

He should be building cars and airplanes, not writing basic with green and red blocks.

who are you to tell someone else what their kid should be doing.

Like I said, if he has an interest in it, let him run with it.

He has an interest in "robots", not programming. It's irrelevant that there is little difference in the real world. He's a kid who likes robots just like every other kid. The boy is too young for his father to start steering him to a future he thinks is good.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: OS
As opposed to maybe some others, kudos for giving your kid something to stimulate his mind. If he has a natural interest, it's best to let him run with it while he is young, when he learns the most.

He should be building cars and airplanes, not writing basic with green and red blocks.

who are you to tell someone else what their kid should be doing.

Like I said, if he has an interest in it, let him run with it.

He has an interest in "robots", not programming. It's irrelevant that there is little difference in the real world. He's a kid who likes robots just like every other kid. The boy is too young for his father to start steering him to a future he thinks is good.

That's amazing insight considering you've got about 75 words worth of information upon which to base your decision.

I wasn't asking for opinions about how to raise my kids, I was asking for opinion about the Legos robotic systems.

 

[43st]

I disagree with the "let him run with it" attitude. My parents did that with me as a child and honestly it resulted in a flavor of the month attitude toward hobbies and school. Only much later in life did I manage to recognize that I needed discipline more than general encourgement, too bad that was well after college as my grades reflected my flavor of the month attention span.

 

[Bryophyte]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: OS
As opposed to maybe some others, kudos for giving your kid something to stimulate his mind. If he has a natural interest, it's best to let him run with it while he is young, when he learns the most.

He should be building cars and airplanes, not writing basic with green and red blocks.

who are you to tell someone else what their kid should be doing.

Like I said, if he has an interest in it, let him run with it.

He has an interest in "robots", not programming. It's irrelevant that there is little difference in the real world. He's a kid who likes robots just like every other kid. The boy is too young for his father to start steering him to a future he thinks is good.

One of the great things about being a parent is that you get to make the decisions about your child and are free to ignore advice from people who don't live with your kid, don't know your kid, and usually aren't even parents. Nobody is an expert about any particular child (his or her needs, personality, likes/dislikes, etc) other than his or her parents, so nobody else's opinions hold any weight. Buying a toy for a child is not the same thing as determining the child's future career. Parents are free to explore hobbies with their kids. It's good for the kid, it's good for the parent. It creates memories and helps their relationship grow.

 

[johnnqq]

i got the first version when i was like 12...and i didn't really know how to make it do anything besides turn, move, follow a line, etc. get him knex or lego he'll at least do something hands on.

 

[thehstrybean]

Damn! That looks awesome, and I'm 17!

 

[Bryophyte]

Originally posted by: Cheezeit
The middle school I went to had about 40 kits of the 1.0 version. I was even in the lego league that competed in building robots. THe whole thing was really fun and very educational. You have to program the robot to do everything. In the begining, you can get it working with just time settings (like motor a&c go foreward 2 secs to move the robot forward). But once you get more involved, you can create subroutines, use the light, touch, and rotation sensor, and all kind of other neat things.

Its a really good investment to go ahead and buy one for your kid even if he's kinda young right now. It will probaly help him be more creative and have a better background in robotics.

As for the reliability, the motors and are about the only moving parts and they can be hooked up to many things (gearing, attachments) but nothing has ever broken for me.

Feel free to pm me if you have any more questions, I would be happy to help

They have the robotics league around here, too. Kids can start in 4th grade. That reminds me, I need to ask around to see if there is a team that needs a member (my son's in 4th grade.) The schools around here generally aren't involved with it, you do it after school.

 

[BatmanNate]

That looks awesome, I loved legos when I was that age and would have jumped at something like this had it been available. Plus spending time building stuff with your dad is always beneficial and will be appreciated later in life.

 

[Martin]

The system is awesome, but I don't think its reasonable to expect a 4.5y.o. to really understand any of the programming side. That being said, get it anyway - the least it'll do is give him tons of lego parts to play with, and that's still good.

<-- was a lego maniac until ~11