Robotics for kids

[chefshrek]

My 9 year old daughter wants to join the robotics club in our town but it's a bit pricey, it'll work out to about R8k for the year.

She'll be able to work/play/learn with them for an hour a week during school terms but seeing as they only offer 1 slot per week for her age group if she misses that slot due to sickness, school sports, my work schedule or any other unforseen circumstance that's it, no chance of catching it up.

I was wondering if I shouldn't rather buy a decent beginners robotics kit for the house that we could play with and learn the basics as a family, if she takes a liking to it ee can look at joining the club next year. My budget is uncertain as I have no idea what I'm doing. Does anyone have any advice for me?

 

[Zipkoppie]

A good place to start, is perhaps something like Lego mindstorm robotics, which is what most of these education classes uses. It also has all sorts of extra expansion sets for stuff like solar power and there is also a range of 3rd party sensors that are compatible with it. Of course, if she already has Lego, she can use it with a set like this.

They are fairly pricey at R6300, but it comes with everything you need and instructions for a few robots. It's widely used so there are lots of books, forums, support and other resources available.

51515 | LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Robot Inventor

Enter the amazing physical and digital world of programmable, remote-control robots and intelligent creations. With LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Robot Inventor (51515), young robot fans build 5 unique, motorized robots and vehicles using the free LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor App. Then they bring them to...

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