Deciding on a beginner robotics kit

#1

Hi, I’m a professional Mechanical Designer at an automation company. I’m trying to expand my knowledge of arduino programming while also having some fun. I’m trying to find a “beginner” type robotics kit that offers the most bang for the buck.

Right now I’ve been looking at Makeblock “starter robotics kit” and the Arcrobotics Sparki. The Starter Robotics kit seems to be more expandable and customizable… however the sparki has a surprising amount of capability out of the box.

I’m trying to keep my budget below $200. Am I missing any other options?

This is also for a grown 31 year old man so I’m trying to avoid any “kiddy” type devices that may make me feel like I’m playing with a toy! I’d like to learn to code in true C++.

Thank you for any advice you can offer.

#2

@Dave_Dillon,

I’m a couple of decades older than you, and I come from the programming side of the house. I’ve been playing with these products for almost a year, and think they have a lot of potential. Some things that you may want to consider include the expand-ability of any of the products you look at. Take a look at the products tab on Makeblock’s web site and compare it to the products tab on Sparki’s site.

I started with the Inventors Electronic Kit, bought additional hardware, got the mBot, and mDrawBot Kit, bought the laser and more hardware. Sometimes the software needs tweaking, sometime the hardware needs tweaking. Either way, you may end up spending more than you think.

As for the language side of things, Makeblock is based on Arduino, and Arduino uses C/C++.

Hope this helps.

Mike

#3