May 09 2015
So I honestly haven’t even had the chance to build a littleBits circuit more complicated than a battery, single dimmer and LED yet, but as soon as I unboxed the cloudBit Starter Kit, I knew I wanted more. As an Arduino addict, grabbing the Arduino Coding Kit at a 60% discount seemed like a no-brainer. So just a …
May 08 2015
Ever since my local RadioShack started carrying littleBits, the modular electronics system for students, makers and hackers, I’ve spent more and more time in front of their display in the store, going back and forth about whether to purchase any. I never did pull the trigger. Until now. Honestly, the price for both the kits …
Oct 24 2014
It’s been a long time coming, but I finally built a robot using the 14-in-1 Educational Solar Robot Kit by OWI. I’m not sure I will make my way through all 14, but I decided to start with what looked to be the simplest one first: the Wheel-bot. (Note: I now also realize that I …
Oct 08 2014
So I am going it alone again today. School has been back in session for several weeks now. With evenings and weekends consumed with homework, friends, karate, and Minecraft, I am lucky to even get my daughter’s attention let alone hold it for any appreciable length of time. Her life is full of friendship, creativity, …
Sep 24 2014
After coming out of the gate hard and fast on day 1, my pint-sized, assistant robot builder seemed to have entirely lost interest in this kit. I can’t say as though I blame her. For an intellectually curious eight year-old with an attention span attenuated by Angry Birds, Youtube, and Kidz Bop, the monotony of preparing …
Sep 09 2014
The Little Prince once said, “Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.” In his case he was referring to a series of drawings he had done of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant whole, but it took me delving back into …
Aug 07 2014
I can think of very few things that I enjoy as much as spending time with my 8 year-old daughter building robots. (Assembling Lego Star Wars kits admittedly finishes a close second.) We both like to build our bots from scratch, but when we lack time, motivation, and/or my full attention, a kit is often more …
Dec 10 2005
I’m finally getting through posting about the robots at IREX last week, but the one that is left on my list, the ROBOTIS Bioloid robot kit, may be of the most interest to amateur roboticists. There are several robot kits available these days, and they run the gamut from relatively simple and cheap to expensive …
