SPARK (Starter Programs for the Advancement of Robotic Knowledge)

what are some examples of robotic toys for children that involve some real programming?  i.e. do programming on computer, upload software into toy, and observe behavior of robot?  would be great toy for christmas, educaitonal and fun.

Great question!

I would say that currently, the best option for kids in terms of programmable robots that comes the closest to what you’ve asked—programming on the computer, uploading commands to robot, and then executing on robot—is the LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 system.  Some basic information about Mindstorms is available on SPARK at http://spark.irobot.com/index.php/educational_resources/platform_detail/platforms/lego_mindstorms ; the official page is at http://www.mindstorms.com .

This system is very well-made and easy for kids to use right out of the box.  The downside is the price—as of 12/7/09, Amazon.com has them on sale for $266.40 (http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-4544091-Mindstorms-NXT-2-0/dp/B001USHRYI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1260199140&sr=8-2).

If anyone has other suggestions, I would also love to hear them!

I have heard of the Lego Mindstorms, because I see them all the time when I go shopping with kids at the big toy stores.  Do you know what kind of programming is involved with them?  I’m looking for something that is reasonably complex as a programming language (basically Turtle isn’t going to cut it), but not so much so that it’s overwhelming (like Assembler!).

Lego Mindstorms is used in competitions run by FIRST.

Here is a web address for their site: http://www.usfirst.org/

FLL Competition will be held 12/19/09 at WPI

ideeds356 - 12 December 2009 10:28 PM

I have heard of the Lego Mindstorms, because I see them all the time when I go shopping with kids at the big toy stores.  Do you know what kind of programming is involved with them?  I’m looking for something that is reasonably complex as a programming language (basically Turtle isn’t going to cut it), but not so much so that it’s overwhelming (like Assembler!).

So, I’d say that the software that comes with Mindstorms is more interesting than Turtle or Logo.
Here’s an interactive demo of the software that comes with Mindstorms NXT, if you’d like to try it out:
mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Software/Default.aspx

But if that is too simple for what you’d like to do, I believe it is also possible to use other programming languages with NXT , see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Mindstorms_NXT#Programming

It’s good that it’s compatible with Windows 7.

Fortunately it is compatible

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