The Ozobot Bit is a tiny one-inch wheeled robot that provides a clever path to get kids involved in programming robotic behavior.
It starts with a stunningly simple idea -- The Bit simply follows the path of lines that you draw on a piece of paper.
Then you can start controlling it by drawing color patterns on the path, which are interpreted as commands to have it change speed or direction, count down, and execute other pre-defined moves.
Now your kids are having fun planning races and solving mazes, while learning problem solving and deductive reasoning. Sneaky!
For more fun, you can visit the Ozobot Gamezone to download free mazes, playgrounds, racetracks, and strategy or luck games.
But that's just the beginning, since you can integrate the Bit with smartphones and computers. As kids get more into controlling the motion, they can go online and design simple programs by linking together a series of blocks with the same kinds of commands.
Even better, Ozobot programming is based on Google's Blockly tool that can grow with you (and your kids) to advance through five levels of more sophisticated programming -- all the way to Web programming in Javascript.
The Ozobot Bit is available in white and black starting at $59. It's a stunningly clever way to expose kids to thinking about programming while they're having fun.
- See Holiday Gadgets 2015 for more on fun holiday tech.
- And the full article in Princeton's U.S. 1 Newspaper:
Gift Ideas for the Mobile Tech Crowd.
Find the Ozobot Bit on Amazon.com