LittleBot Buddy is the 9th robot to come from the Slant Concepts line of LittleBots STEM kits. This addition is the most personable of all. Buddy is an interactive robotics kit that is simple to build and designed to help kids get excited about creating a robotic companion.
Buddy is the culmination of nearly 2 years of work. LittleBots has been experimenting with variants of Buddy since the first LittleBots kits were released. They finally found a design that was both highly interactive and simple to build.
Buddy works by observing the world around him. When something changes he generates completely unique reactions, just as a living creature would do. He is completely spontaneous. This helps Buddy to maintain kid’s attention longer as they build and work with him.
The kit can be built in under an hour, does not require any soldering, and has fewer than 15 screws. This makes is simple to build even for the most inexperienced users.
The main chip is arduino and can be reprogrammed using standard or graphical programming tools, such as the Arduino IDE or Makeblock.
Adding to the uniqueness of Buddy is the fact that he is 3D Printed. LittleBots made this choice to both create a cleaner design with fewer parts and to invite kids to edit and build on the robot. “When the robot is 3D printed kids know they are allowed to 3D print more parts using the printer in a classroom,” stated Gabe Bentz, lead designer of the LittleBots Project.
All together Buddy is a very interactive robotics kits that is simple to get started with but packs a good amount of complexity into a simple little package.
The kit is currently available for preorders on Kickstarter and was 25% funded within it first 12 hours of going live. Preorders are expected to start shipping in December 2019.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slantrobotics/littlebot-buddy