Cozmo
© 2016 Anki
Our testers loved Cozmo -- a fast, smart little robot with a personality that grows on you. The robot itself is durable, surviving several falls off a table, and moves on treads. It looks like a tiny bulldozer that uses a camera to view the world. Cozmo interacts with cubes and your smart phone or tablet (all three flavors -- Kindle, iPad and Android), which doubles as the controller. The app lets you play a variety of timing games. The setup is complex (requires putting in a Wi-Fi code), but the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in this robot is extremely well done. Cozmo has a camera that can transfer streaming images to your tablet and rechargeable batteries (the cradle is pr ovided). Here's the unboxing video: https://youtu.be/CwAMX_W12pg
$180, iPad, iPhone, Kindle
Teaches: robotics, programming, cameras
CTR Rating: 88%