Looking for best beginners Arduino robot kit

Hello folks!

I am looking for a cool project to do with my 13 year old son, I googled it but there are a lot of different opinions out there!

I am looking for a kit that has the following :

  • Easy coding instructions, good as an introduction to code
  • Basic but upgradeable
  • Can be used as a base to learn Arduino as well as robotics

I hope you guys can help me! :slight_smile:

Cheers!

Here is what I've been loking at so far:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00W6Y194Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2I0DT8TRUL79X&psc=1

Hi Beardedmaker,
It really is down to you, but I'd say don't buy a kit, there are so many options.. I have built a few so take a look here www.melsaunders.co.uk under Electronics and see if you like the look of any of these!! It may be a goood idea to buy a ready built or kit chassis. I've used al sorts of things including Tamiya parts, tracks, etc. I'm now just getting into Meccano..

Hope it helps, get back to us.

Regards

Mel.

I looked at your site, really neat stuff on there!
My son is REALLY into battle bots, I'm trying to explain to him that he needs to start with projects like yours in order to learn :wink:

Hi,
Yes do it yourself that the only way to learn, weather it's building a bot or programming. The kit you looked at looks really smart, but is very basic, and I'd say expensive, but that depends on how big your pockets are.

Where are you based? The Zumo tracked bot is used in Sumo battles, in a small ring, the idea being to knock the other bot out of the ring, there's lot on the web.

If I can help just shout, Regards

Mel.

Take a look at Pololu.com and their Sumo bots. Maybe there are Sumo bot competitions near you.

High schools often participate in First Robotics at different levels

Could also suggest getting into NASCAR/Army sponsored Ten80 Racing challenge (remote control cars, 12-15" long)

At my son's school, the juniors compete, and the seniors from the prior year provide guidance. If his school doesn't have a team, he could start one up. They model the car, give presentations, and of course, race!
http://www.ten80education.com/nsl-racing/

I don't think it's too late to get in to Ten80 for this season. His junior year they only got in about 6 weeks before the finals, and pulled off a 2nd place finish overall, and the school won the next year. Schools compete regionally and then at National finals. The Finals are at different NASCAR tracks, my son went to Charlotte Motor Speedway, this year looks to be at Homestead-Miami Speedway in May.

It's all good engineering experience.

This site was just mentioned on another thread as well, had some interesting looking wheels.

visit the RobotShop web site they are the best source I have found for parts and kits robots drones printers etc

chrislittler:
what motors would you use on the zuma chassis thanks

The (I assume you mean) Zumo not zuma :wink: chassis seems to have a choice of 3 motors, which I think are actually the same electric motor with different gearing. As always, like in your car, the choice of gear depends on what you want to do. The table on this page compares torque and speed, and trade-off is yours to make.