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Shed Picks: Fun Robot Kits for Kids

Education Robotics Technology
Shed Picks: Fun Robot Kits for Kids

BeetleBot
Kids do love them some robots, even the littlest kids. My 2-year-old son, for example, demands, โ€œDaddy! Watch robots!โ€ on my laptop (specifically Jack Conteโ€™s insane DIY music video for โ€œPedalsโ€ and Keepon dancing to Spoonโ€™s โ€œDonโ€™t You Evahโ€œ). So Iโ€™m shopping for robots this year and the Shedโ€™s got โ€™em โ€” check out these four super easy kits suitable for kids younger than 10.

Four Fun Robot Kits the Kids Can Build!

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Simple Robots from Junk

Manyโ€™s the tot who has found the box more interesting than the gift inside. So what could be better than robots made from a cardboard box or a soda can? Thereโ€™s no real โ€œroboticโ€ behavior, but you make it and motorize it and it goes, and thatโ€™s a great first experience for your budding roboticist.

boxrobot1

Get the Box Robot and repurpose the box to make the robotโ€™s body โ€” you can decorate it any way you want, then add the wheels, face, and motor to make it go. No soldering required, so itโ€™s fun to make even with little ones. Bonus โ€” when the box is destroyed, as it soon will be, just get another box and draw a new robot on it. Recommended for ages 8 and up. Get it from the Maker Shed here.

TinCan2TinCanRobot

TinCanRobot
The Tin Can Robot is a similar idea, but with a soda can โ€” shiny metal! โ€” and it can be made in two different versions, a silly walker or a monster. (Itโ€™s like they *know* my kid.) Recommended for ages 8 and up. Get it here at the Maker Shed. Or get both and have an epic Battle of the Blue Recycling Bin.

Easy Obstacle-Avoiding Robots

One of the simplest true robotic behaviors is obstacle avoidance, and these two bots can do it.

Obstacle

The inexpensive and cubically cuddly Obstacle Avoiding Robot Kit from Japanโ€™s Artec Educational is built from thick paper parts in just a half hour. Bump sensors (tiny limit switches) on both sides of the body detect when the robot has run into an object, triggering the bot to run in a different direction. These are super fun to turn loose on the floor and watch them pinball around the house.
Get it here.

BeetleBotred

More robust and equally fun is the obstacle-avoiding Big Bad Beetlebot Kit, with a cool-looking bugbot form and a clever reversal of the limit switches: the bugโ€™s antennae act as the bump sensors, and they each cross over to the switch on the opposite side of the bug. No soldering, just a screwdriver is needed. No microcontrollers, ICs, or transistors are used โ€” just the two switches cleverly wired together form the brains of this robot that has been featured as a popular MAKE magazine project. Get yours from the Maker Shed while they last!

And thatโ€™s just the beginning of our robot kits. Move up to building BrushBots, Solar Robots, and Cubelets kits for bigger kids, and work your way up to the powerful Rovera Arduino Robot, Propeller Activity Bot, and Multiplo Robot Building Kits for your engineer-in-training.

See all of our Shed picks here.

What will the next generation of Make: look like? Weโ€™re inviting you to shape the future by investing in Make:. By becoming an investor, you help decide whatโ€™s next. The future of Make: is in your hands. Learn More.

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