Codex the Programming Machine

We got Botley for my 7 year old daughter. We are trying to involve more STEM learning at home, and she absolutely loved it! It was very easy for her to understand and incorporated coding into a fun learning experience. She loved making new obstacles and trying to figure out how to get Botley to his goal. This is a great way to introduce the basics of coding to younger kids while also incorporating fun.A few tips for using Botley: 1. Make sure the surface you are on is flat and doesn't have any surface changes. We noticed it worked well on low pile carpet and laminate best. If we worked on tile, his wheels would sometimes get stick in the grooves and throw him a bit off course, which over the length of the course can cause him to ultimately miss his target. 2. Keep his wheels clean. They are made of a rubber substance that can grab hold of pet hair pretty amazingly, which works great if you are trying to pick up the pet hair, but it can coat his wheels and also cause him to slip when he turns. 3. Keep in mind that when telling him to go left or right, you are basing that off of the view from behind Botley, not from the front, so when helping your littles code, remind them that it is Botley's right or left and not theirs.Overall, Botley is an amazing resource for STEM learning and an overall fun toy to play with!

This robot is very cute and has been easy to learn and use. One thing that did annoy me is that on the package in bold print it says it is, "ready to go, right out of the box." That's not exactly the case, as the batteries are NOT INCLUDED. (This is stated in small print.) So, I had to stop what I was doing and run to the store for the 5 required AAA batteries.There are also 22 stickers that need applied to the accessories.That being said, my five year old has been having a great time with Botley. We started out using the black line follow feature (while mom read the instructions) and then we began having Botley maneuver obstacles using code. It took some trial and error each time for my son to figure out the best way to program Botley to get through the course we set up. When he got it right he was very excited and proud of himself.Botley is a great way to help learn beginning coding, problem solving, and foster creativity.As a homeschool mom I am very excited to have Botley as a part of our STEM curriculum.

My 5 yr. old son loves Botley! He has such a cute little voice and sounds so friendly. The set includes such a nice variety of pieces. You can use the 12 cubes and 8 rods to construct a maze that Botley can then be programmed to run through. The cubes can also be stacked to construct a small wall, that Botley can then be programmed to run into and knock down with his attachable arms. There are also 40 coding cards to be used in conjunction with this cube & rod maze or as a stand alone. The child lays out the coding cards and then follows the coding cards one by one while they enter the code into Botley. Then they watch him to make sure that the code they entered follows their desired pathway. If it does great, they can add to it or delete it and try a different combination.The set also includes 2 cones, 2 balls, 2 flags, and a large orange circle that is supposed to be used as Botley's goal to reach. The cones, balls, and flags are nice to use as obstacles which Botley is suppose to overcome. One of the options on the remote is labeled, "Object Detection" and this indicates to Botley that when he runs into one of the obstacles, he is suppose to figure out how to maneuver around it....he has not been successful so far at doing this though and still completing the rest of his course....but this might be user error.The robot also includes 6 double-sided cardboard cards. They measure roughly 6 x 6" each. One side is black and white and the other is multi-colored. When Botley's settings are switched to "line" mode, he runs along the black line outlined on the black and white side of the cards. This feature also seems a little finicky. Sometimes he just spins in a circle because he cannot find the black line so it is important to line him up precisely. Also, the cards really cannot be used easily on a carpeted surface because sometimes the robot's wheels get caught on the carpeting and this pushes him off the black line and he gets stuck. Of all his features this is the one we have struggled with the most. I also wish that they had included about 10x the number of these cards. The path it makes is tiny and short and is really a waste of time to set up. He cannot transition from the cube & rod maze to the black & white maze on his own so they cannot be combined, unfortunately. I wish they had developed a ramp feature so that this was possible because, it would have greatly increased the mobility of Botley and the number of different possible builds for the maze. As it stands both maze options are very small and thus limited.The other side of the cards are brightly colored and designed to practice some more advanced/independent coding opportunities. My son is just starting out and is only 5 years old and so we have only used this option once. But, it does seem to have great possibilities and I'm looking forward to him being able to use this option more in the future.I love that the sound can be turned off (for when the parent gets tired of hearing it or when there is a sleeping sibling in the house). I also think it was such a cute idea to include a list of "secret coding commands" in the instruction booklet. These allow him to preform cute tricks in which he says, "Hi" and spins etc.I don't love that we have gone through about 20 AAA batteries since purchasing it less then 1 month ago. It does have an off switch and this has not been used as effectively as it should have been and yet, I do think that simply using one D-cell battery in both the robot and the remote would have been a much better approach.Overall, we love him and recommend him as a great beginning coding toy.#learningresources #botley

Botley arrived at our house a few hours ago and my kids (6 and 10 yrs) have been playing with it since I popped the batteries in.It says "Ready to go, right out of the box!", BUT you need 5 AAA batteries and a Phillips screwdriver. Oh, and there are some stickers to stick to some of the pieces too. There is also no sticker guide in the instructions but looking at the box it was easy to tell where the stickers were supposed to be placed. My 6 year old put the eyes on the blocks while I put the other stickers on.At thus point my kids were more than eager to get their hands on Botley, and I handed it over to them with a quick glance at the small "getting started" section of the instructions. So far they've figured out how to make it crash into multiple block towers, chase our dog, follow a line, and talk. All without looking at the instructions. It is super user friendly. I love it. I didn't realize how engaging this toy would be. My kids are cooperating, learning how to code while they play, and staying engaged. Kids need to play with more toys like this!

Its good product to provide hands on expereince of logical thinking . Attched video my kids created a circle by attching a marker and giving instruction on second day of getting the product . Pretty good for the price