Robot Menu
|
| BugBrain - A Great Walking Robot Kit |
 |
The people who came up with the BugBrain walking robot kit obviously had a sense of humour. This insect like little robotic critter wouldn't win any awards for the most handsome droid category but, as my old mum used to say, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.
Once you get to know the Bugbrain walking robot kit, you'll actually find he's a pretty interesting guy. This isn't just a mindless robotic toy. It's actually a powerful programmable robot that either general robot fans or more serious students will get a lot out of.
|
The microprocessor on BugBrain is fully programmable. It's pretty easy to connect him to your computer (through a regular serial port). Once you've hooked his robotic brain up, you can fill it with instructions. This walking kit does the usual tricks and some new ones. Believe it or not, he can actually 'dance'. We thought that was funny when we tried it out.
It's not a particularly difficult robot kit to assemble, but really young kids will need a parent to help with some of the more testing sections. But there's a good sized and thankfully jargon-free booklet that comes bundled with the BugBrain walking robot kit.
|
|
It's well worth spending time both on the manual, and on learning the software. We found that you'll get the most from this cool little kit if you don't rush it and follow all the guides. BugBrain comes with a lot of sample programs or you can create your own. Once you learn the basics, you'll have your robot walking hit crawling around and doing all kinds of neat tricks.
The Bug Brain robot kit is definitely worth a look at and you should get a lot of pleasure out of it. And, if you're into robots in a serious way - as in students, then this will integrate nicely with some of the projects you're working on. Just be prepared to laugh at it when you take it out of the packaging. (But don't let him hear...)
Score: 8 / 10
|