Awesome Walking Robot!
We spent a few hours last night building a really great walking robot complete with red glowing LED eyes. The kit was made by a company called Funology. I purchased it online at Maker Shed for only $17.99.
This project is a really great introduction to gears, linkages, and motors. The kit does not require any soldering; the only tools required are a screw-driver and a wrench. Everything else snapped together.
Pros:
– A fairly quick build (~2 hours)
– Super fun!
– Very cool walking mechanism and nice nice walking motion
– Incredibly great intro to gears and gear boxes
– Had a nice little bag of spare parts, just in case 😉
Cons:
– To me it seems like it might be pretty hard for a 10 year old to put together since the parts are very small.
– The nuts are nylon lock nuts which are good for keeping the robot together. However, the nuts are small and in an awkward position making assembly a bit tricky.
– Not the most stable guy until you play with his feet to keep in upright in all walking positions.
– The on/off switch is a bit hard to reach