Say hello to Olive, 12, and Mimi, 12. Our dynamic duo are curious tweens who share a love of problem solving and creating. We set the girls the task of building Jimu Tankbot, a robotics kit designed for older kids who are developing their STEM skills.
After carefully reviewing the instructions and sorting out Jimu’s many pieces, it was time to get started on the initial build. There were a few hiccups, including an arm reconstruction and a struggle with cords, but finally the Jimu robotic kit was complete – and the girls couldn’t help but celebrate with a dance.
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The STEM Toy
The Jimu TankBot is a STEM learning toy recommended for an age range of 8 and up. It’s a great introduction to robotics, coding and programming, addressing the core skills of science, technology, engineering and maths, and the starter kit includes everything you need to build your own robot.
Once your little guy is assembled and ready to go, kids can program their robot to navigate obstacles, grab and lift objects, race and play. Children can wirelessly control the coding toy with Bluetooth connectivity through the free Jimu app, available for both iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.
Another clever feature of our googly-eyed pal is his infrared sensor, which detects surrounding objects to avoid crashes and, hopefully, marks on white walls.
The Educational Experience
Before Jimu can get rolling, kids will need to follow the detailed step-by-step instructions in the starter kit to snap together all of his 190 pieces. The construction process of this educational toy is rigorous, encouraging and promotes STEM learning. It gets them to practice dexterity and sharpen their fine motor skills, all while learning about engineering and shapes.
Once Jimu is built, your kids’ STEM education can continue as they learn to code new custom actions using the built-in Pose Record Play system. As their coding skills grow, kids can introduce more complex sequences with Blockly software.
The Verdict
So what did the girls think of this test’s STEM toy? Despite the coding robot’s tricky construction and not-so-cute colouring, Jimu the TankBot was an overwhelming success. “If he was pink he would be even more cuter, but I still like him the way he is,” said Olive.
Our Panel’s Rating out of 10
Olive gave it 9 stars (docking a point for colour) while Mimi rated it 10. Full marks!
Note: LIMITED STOCK AVAILABLE AS AT 01 MAY, 2020. Can’t find Jimu in store? Find more cool robots and coding kits online.
