Botley The Coding Robot
The dynamic coding robot!
Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM)
Engage and inspire young learners in STEM with our next generation of coding robot, Botley! 100% screen-free, Botley is the ideal introduction to coding. This comprehensive kit provides you with countless ways to program and use this coding robot; no smartphone or tablets required!
The girls have recently been introduced to Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) toys and enjoy them…so we were pleased to receive Botley the Coding Robot from Learning Resources.
Botley is suitable for ages 5+ so perfect for Bee who is 6. And what I loved about it is that it is screen free…I have been trying to reduce to girls screen time so this is perfect.
Contents
- Botley the Coding Robot
- Remote Programmer
- Detachable Robot Arms
- 40 Coding Cards
- 6 Double-sided Tiles
- 27 Obstacle Building Pieces
- Starter Guide with Coding Challenges
Features
- 100% Screen Free Coding
- 77 piece activity set
- Object Detection
- Line Following
- Detachable Arms for Interactive Play
Botley has 2 settings: Line and Code
Line Detection
Botley can follow a black line in any direction and then will turn round at the end and come back. On one of the sides of the tile there are black lines and you can place them any way you like. However if you want to do more, you can draw more lines yourself and watch Botley follow them…however they do need to be thick to allow Botley to detect them.
Coding
To get the little ones started, some simple coding challenges are in the guide. This is ideal as it helps get your child familiar with Botley and the remote programmer. Firstly the challenge is just to make Botley go forward onto the third tile…then you have to make Botley go onto the card on the right…and then to make it more complicated you have to make Botley go right round.
Other challenges are to make Botley take a ball into the circle. In addition to this you can make your own course and get Botley to complete it and avoid obstacles along the way.
What did we think?
Bee is loving using Botley and seems to be getting the hang of using Botley and telling him what to do. I think it is the perfect way to introduce coding to the little ones. Botley is fun to do and provides enough challenges to the little ones to get them thinking about what route to take. The small direction cards can help your child plan the route they want Botley to take in advance before programming it into the remote programmer. The remote programmer is very simple to use.
In addition to the simple forward, back, right turn and left turn, at the bottom there is a button for object detection and a button for loop. A delete button to clear the previous coding is also at the bottom, along with a sound button which you can use to turn off Botley’s sounds. Finally at the top is a big green transmission button.
The remote programmer is ideal for little hands and the side grips help make it easier for the child to hold. I feel that to make the remote even better there should have been a stop button on it to stop Botley (as you have to press a button on the top of him to get him to stop in a middle of a sequence), and also an OFF button on the remote. There is always the chance that if the remote is left in the box a button could be nudged and it would stay on and drain the batteries.
Batteries are not included so bear in mind that 5AAA batteries are required; 2 for the remote programmer and 3 for Botley.
What we also loved about Botley is that it seems to have some hidden features. If you follow a certain sequence you can get Botley to perform some tricks such as getting Botley to say Hi or making Botley feel dizzy.
We think children aged 5-9 will love Botley….although even my eldest was having a bit of a go with it! Botley is available to purchase from the Learning Resources website: Botley The Coding Robot
Disclosure: We received Botley for the purposes of review. However all thoughts and opinions are our own.
Great post, I have forwarded this link to my daughter and her husband they are both IT Technicians, I know they will love this for my grandson, they call him Mini tech, a perfect way to introduce him to coding as you said and have fun at the same time.
Oh yes it definitely is a good way to introduce coding!
Okay, this is the COOLEST toy out there! My older children are 11-6 years old and I can see them having so much fun with Botley! Even I want to try this out myself! Thanks so much for the review, I found it really thorough and informative 🙂
I know right..even I have been playing with it lol
Oh my God, I LOVE this!! I work in the IT industry, so this is right up my street. Sounds like such a cool toy to get kids into Computer Science.
It really is pretty cool!
Oh wow ma shaa Allah! This coding thing is so cool! And this is such a great toy to reduce screen time. No smartphone or tablet required is a bonus! Totally in love with this! Thanks for sharing!
We think it is pretty cool!