When it comes to kids, toys and games it’s hard to find the best stuff and also balance the fun with the need for learning. Jimu Robot does it all and your kids will be wanting more and more time to learn with Jimu.
At first I assumed it was a Lego technic type product, build and enjoy. But this is so much more.
As complex as Technic if not more so for various reasons, but made ever so simple by the app-based instruction guide.
In the $199 starter kit (Meebot robot is all you can make – available exclusively at Apple) you’ve got all you need to build your first robot. Add the Animal add-on pack ($109.95) and you’ve got a variety of shapes to build.
If you’re keen on both those kits from the start, the “Explorer Kit” is available at JB HiFi which is both combined for $299.
There is no paper instruction booklet on how to build, instead, you install the JIMU app on your iPad and follow the 3D diagrams as instructions, progressing through. This gives good warnings on where you can go wrong and allows you to move the 3D model on the iPad around to get the a good look at connectors and things if you’re unsure.
Once built, you connect via Bluetooth to your creation and it can intelligently show you if there any faults with your connections and you can start to make it move.
There will be pre-built “actions” for the robot to undertake – like walk forward, dance, or Juggle, but the real learning happens when you start to build your own action.
This can be done in a few ways. Firstly, you can record an action by moving the robot manually. Playback the action at any time if you save it.
When you dig into the code section you can then do block coding to determine actions and movements. This is the core of coding learning.
Perhaps most impressive though is then moving from Block Code into Swift Code – so you can see in black and white how the block code translates into Swift programming language.
At $199 it’s an impressive product, though I would recommend the $299 purchase if you can afford it as it will give you more variety in building which will be good for keeping the kids engaged with the product.
The Jimu is truly interactive, educational and a whole lot of fun.
[schema type=”review” rev_name=”Jimu Robot” rev_body=”The Jimu Robot explorer range allow you to build creations with stunning iPad based instructions, play with them and learn to code all in one” author=”Trevor Long” pubdate=”2016-11-29″ user_review=”5″ min_review=”0″ max_review=”5″ ]
