Gift for 13 Y/O Boy - Robot?

[jyl]

Looking for a Christmas present for my 13 y/o son. He currently spends a lot of time building virtual cities in Minecraft. He has suggested a Microsoft Xbox Kinect, and that is the default right now, but I'm not that enthusiastic. For one thing, the new Xbox will be out in a year.

I'm looking at Hexy the Hexapod, here Hexy - Open-Source, Low-Cost Hexapod | ArcBotics

Anyone know anything about this? Other, similar, ideas?

[stomachmonkey]

Lego Mindstorm

[Nostril Cheese]

+1 on Mindstorms. Plus, theres a lego store in Washington Square.

[azasadny]

My friend helped Lego develop the Mindstorm product many years ago and our son (he's 21 years old today) got a ton of Mindstorms from my friend and he loved them. Another vote for Mindstorms here!!

[Rusty Heap]

science fair kit in Educational | eBay

[SeanPizzle]

quad rotor copter. They are about $300 for a decent one, not sure your budget.

[porsche4life]

No offense... But if he wants an Xbox, theres a pretty good chance he'll give a big ol' WTF to a robot... While still cool, its not quite the same...

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by SeanPizzle

quad rotor copter. They are about $300 for a decent one, not sure your budget.

ParrotAR drone is in that range, and is damn cool...

[ckelly78z]

My 13 year old son wants a new motocross bike to replace his Honda XR100, he says it's too small and too slow. Of course his riding buddy got a brand new Kawasaki 125 2 stroke last year for Christmas, and I tried to tell him we're not spending $3000 on a new bike, and anything he gets will still be a 4 stroke (no oil mixing) probably 200-250cc range.

I gotta agree with the lego mindstorm, the robot may end up sitting after the initial play with.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally Posted by SeanPizzle

quad rotor copter. They are about $300 for a decent one, not sure your budget.

[ckelly78z]

Yea, I think the catcopter is the way to go.....it'll gross out all the neighbor girls so that'll be cool.

[bell]

Step it up with a honey badger quad copter LoL

[legion]

Come on guys. The one thing a 13 year-old boy wants most of all...is a 13 year-old girl.

[fanaudical]

If he's looking to get into robotics and has previous experience in some form of programming, then I think that hexapod kit looks good. It is arduino-based so be prepared for some significant tech challenges if he's never done any programming.

LEGO Mindstorms is much more flexible and very capable. It's a better entry-level robotics package and has the benefit of being infinitely expandable. If he's outgrown his other LEGO than he may see this as a "juvenile gift".

I'm making lots of presumptions, but it sounds like you may have a gamer who may not want to get involved with the "whole package" of mechanical/electrical/software integration. I have one of those under my roof, too.

[HardDrive]

I know a bit about it. See video below. If your son is tech minded, he might enjoy an arduino package. It sounds like the package you are looking at has prepackage code that will make it easier to get up and running quickly. To have any real fun with it, he will need to know at least a bit of C++.

I built mine based on a OOPIC microcontroller.

I built a damn robot, and for the life of me, I can't get the video to embed. Doh!

roboapproach - YouTube

[Joe Bob]

I'd consider a blow up doll....

[HardDrive]

Dag nabit! Why does it work for you? I