Ask HN: Best programmable robot for a child with SDK?

I want to show my kids what you can achieve with software development, and I think dealing with some physical thing that is controlled by your code is incredible fun - you are getting feedback instantly.

I see that there some projects like Sphero, etc.. that already got an API - I think it's great.

Can you advice some other things that are falls into that category? (I'm actually afraid of doing hardware part of it... so I think arduino-based things are too complex -- correct me if I'm wrong)

Both.

If you're looking for the "professional" quality ones, I believe Lego Mindstorm is probably the way to go. That's what schools use.

If you're just looking for something simple and fun to expose your child to concepts, something like a Code-a-Pillar, programmable R2D2 toy, or any of the dozens of similar products would work fine.

I've had some fun with Cozmo by Anki, with the caveats that the company recently went under and the required local wifi setup with your phone and the robot is incredibly clunky.

But I did manage to train a computer vision model using photos taken by the robot: https://www.charlieharrington.com/teaching-my-robot-with-ten...

Your child came with an SDK? :)