Robotics for tweens/teens

[zork 629]

My son is about to be 12 and daughter 10.  They are both in STEM after school programs that  have touched on basic robotics and programming a bit via the Lego Mindstorm program of robotics.

If you were going to supplement that would you buy the Mindstorm set?  The boy mentioned he wasn't given much opportunity to do the programming side as one of the wizkids did most of that while he and others did the building parts.

Seems like it is a pretty robust set of stuff that has been out and is now at least on the third iteration and 4th generation might be out soon if not already.

Anyone have experience with STEM tweens/teens as a parent who would give me their opinions on pros and cons on the value of guiding them towards extending their STEM experience at home?  Any other suggestions on how to maximize dollars spent also time spent in such endeavors?

BTW, both are voracious readers, kick ass at math, have enjoyed their STEM experiences when they get the chance and love school in general.  

 

[Hawndoh 2386]

I used to teach some of that stuff. 

The mindstorm stuff can be very good and it can do a lot. It also gets expensive quickly.

We used a company called Vex Robotics in the school. It's quite expensive and mainly geared to schools. Mostly metal components but ultimately the same kind of idea as mindstorm. They have a more toy like line of products called Hex something something that is more plastic and cheaper like mindstorm. 

The full blown Vex stuff is really only an option if you have a lot of money to spend on it. 

[smokebomb 357]

I’d take a look at LEGO Boost:

https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Creative-17101-Educational-Award-Winning/dp/B072MK1PDV

It is not as complex as Mindstorms but is a fun way to start off with programming and building robots. It is geared toward 7-12 year olds and if they really like it, you can move them onto the Mindstorms versions.

 

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

You can try a sphearo which let's them focus on the programming part and less the engineering part.