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Everybody – and I mean everybody – seems to want to have a robot. I remember all manner of them growing up in the 80s (some were barely even good as toys, let alone as tools), and now there are all sorts of angles being presented framing these toys in a much more educational light. One of the latest to hit the scene is the Clicbot.
Will the premise of the Clicbot deliver? That remains to be seen – we?ve had several different small robots come onto the scene in the past few years that promised wild fun and interactivity, but fell far short of what the promise was. Where I think the Clicbot has a chance to win is the fact that it?s a physical manifestation of a coding platform.
The details on what language is being used are sparse, but the brand is calling out a visual, drag-and-drop programming interface that can allow you to program the robot to do all sorts of things, such as :
- Walk
- Climb walls
- Dance
- Race
- Draw
- Play games
The brains of the Clicbot is an oversize capsule that holds the battery, camera, and a round screen that allows the robot to have a face and some personality (in this case, designed by a fellow from Pixar. The modularity of the components seems interesting, and should allow for some quick ?up and running? creations, as well as some longer-term, more complex builds.
Are there other DIY build-and-program-it-yourself kits out there? There are, and many of them are surprisingly quite affordable. The Clicbot puts things in a more consumer-friendly format (read: for parents who are not as tech savvy as their kids) and want something that the kids can really dive into on their own. Sure, the ten videos they?re starting out with will be exhausted quickly, but I?m sure that could grow.
Pricing looks to start at $349, and if you?re interested, you can head on over to their page to get notified when they launch on Kickstarter, and read up more on this newest entry into the code-driven home robot revolution. keyirobot.com
