I’m wanting to buy the ultimate robot kit for my 11 year old son for Christmas (I would be helping), but I would hate for his main present to not work. So I have a couple questions:
Should I just wait until more bugs are worked out?
VexIQ a better choice?
Where should I buy it from for the best chance of everything working (Amazon, direct etc)?
Would I need to assemble it and figure out the programming before Christmas day to make sure it all works?
Thanks for the help.
You can order the kit from Maker Shed in the US (maker shed.com) or direct from Makeblock (not sure about the rest of the world). VexIQ is a different choice that may work well depending on what you are wanting to do, such as the Vex competitions that some middle schools and high schools compete in.
From what I can tell, the Ultimate Robot Kit allows you to create several different models. You can use the Scratch-based mBlock environment or you can program the robot directly in the Arduino environment for standalone usage. I participated in the mBot Kickstarter and I haven’t had any issues from the kits which were very easy to assemble although the USB chipset is not supported on Yosemite/El Capitan (OS X). You should also be aware that the mBlock IDE does not work for Linux because Adobe does not provide Adobe Air for Linux. If you are running Windows 8+, you should be fine.
With regard to assembling it and figuring out the programming before Christmas day, I can only offer that assembly will likely not be a problem. The programming depends on your familiarity with programming in Scratch or C/C++. There are many Scratch tutorials online. I tend to bump into the limitations of Scratch fairly rapidly, but I’m trying to do things that Scratch was not really designed for. Likewise, there are lots of tutorials for programming Arduinos online as well.
I hope this collection of information and opinions helps!
Chuck
Hi,
The Ultimate Robot Kit is a great kit and I used it as “the base” of my now (much too) large MakeBlock parts collection. Now it’s actually cheaper than the version that does not include electronics, so it’s a bargain at that price.
Regarding software - there are some kinks but they’re not roadblock I’d say? Most examples for this kit will work well. I initially looked at Vex and other alternatives, but Makeblock is just better in so many regards. It offers Arduino compatibility, it’s an open platform so you get all source code (so you can learn from it), they offer more and a wider variety of parts and it’s generally more solid than the alternatives. The fact that LEGO technic parts work with it to a certain extent (same hole spacing, but not exact diameter) is also a plus.
What you don’t get is a company that offers a western level of support, but they do their best to help. They’re also not so big that they don’t listen to well meant advice and I appreciate that.
Thanks for replying guys. I bought the kit, very impressed with it. I quickly attached the motors and synced it with my phone and everything worked great. Thanks for the help.