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I was going to recommend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Mindstorms but is is discontinued. In terms of easy of build and programming these were great. This kit is still available https://education.lego.com/en-us/products/lego-education-spi...
get a - roomba create 3 for 400 - arm built of dynamixel servos for 200 - camera for 100-500 (stereoscopic will set you back but its worth it) - nvidia jetson nano orin nx (500) for about 2k, you can make a robot that can clean your house and is probably smarter than a dog/cat
Regarding the arm, are you thinking of a particular kit? Those servos look really interesting, so you can read their position via a UART type interface? I've only played with cheap PWM servos before.
Buy one of the kits at Pololu Robotics, it was the first robot I ever built when I was in grade school 25 years ago, and set me off on a great trajectory to design and build robots, medical devices, and all kinds of hardware professionally. https://www.pololu.com/category/2/robot-kits
You buy a relatively affordable kit of parts, but then you are free to assemble and program the bit in whatever way imaginable.
VEX annually comes out with new games and challenges for your robot to be able to complete. There are teams and clubs across the US, and it’s an all around great program.
I’m looking forward to my kids being old enough to build and compete, It’s a blast for kids and adults!
If your child has experience with Scratch, then MicroBlocks will make him feel very familiar.
Many of these comments are about robotics as it's taught now, focusing on code and cameras and algorithms and motion planning. As someone who's built both BattleBots and Professional Robotics for work, BattleBots is a great way to get out of equations and hands on fabrication, manufacturing, testing, and scrappiness that is so hard to reach in mechanical and electrical engineering. And unlike FIRST or Lego robots, it…
However! I do think you could easily adapt it to a smaller embedded form factor and do like a beyblades style battle in a tiny arena.
Definitely agree about being hands on and open ended, the skills you learn will take you very far in engineering but also just in life!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> NOTE: The IDE works only on Mac or Windows (if you want to code) Boo! hiss
Proprietary tooling that doesn’t work the way you want is unfortunately a great introduction to hardware work :/
I’ve been a middle school and high school robotics coach for a number of years. I think VEX robotics makes the best products to teach kids of any age robotics. https://www.vexrobotics.com/ You buy a relatively affordable kit of parts, but then you are free to assemble and program the bit in whatever way imaginable. VEX annually comes out with new games and challenges for your robot to be able to complete. There are t…