*Tryazon gave me an Ozobot and even one to give away in return for a review. All opinions are mine alone.
When I saw these key features of the Ozobot I thought me boys would love it.
Learn & play with robotics in a variety of settings Ozobot comes to life when you create mazes, playgrounds & tracks Create mazes for Ozobot on paper, game boards or digital screens Comes with free downloadable apps Is a physical avatar for one-of-a-kind augmented reality games (multidimensional environments)! Teaches code language, deductive reasoning & robotic behavior.
When we received our Ozobot in the mail, my 17year old pulled it out and started learning about what it could do. He was excited as it reminded him of the robots he worked on in his engineering class at the TECH Center last year. I have to say my first impression of it was, (in monotone thinking voice) “oh that’s cute, it follows lines…coding, how in the world do you code?…this is not going to keep interest for very long.” Then I watched this
This is fairly informative but still I was like, “that’s cool but, eh” maybe this attitude just shows that I am getting old. My teenage son thinks it is pretty dang cool and wishes he had more time to play with it.
Well, to REALLY test it out we invited a bunch of boys over for a back to school party, ages 8-11 years old.
When I first showed the boys how the Ozobot worked and different codes it could read such as Nitro boost, tornado, turn right/left, zigzag etc. it was like watching fireworks with oooooo’s and aaaaaaaaaah’s and cheers. They were amazed. Then I told them to create their own tracks on paper to try out. Looking at the code example sheet they created their own track. Again, the ooos and aaaaah’s.
One boy had the idea to have everyone make a track, then connect them all to make a huge track. 
As they tested their tracks, sometimes they had to fix something to make it go the way they wanted to. 
It was like a puzzle, trying to figure out how to make it work. They were thrilled when THEIR track worked, they were completely amazed that what they drew on paper made this robot do different things. Here is my son, excited that the robot read his code correctly.
I even heard some yelling, “no, no go the other way. NOOOOOOOO. Bad Ozobot.” then ” GOGOGO YAAAAYYY”. Then there was a race between the two Ozobots. “Which one can we make go faster?”
We tried a few things on the app but the boy’s favorite thing to do was to draw and code their own tracks.
I am sure we didn’t even touch the potential of this unit. I am sure older kids and adults who have an interest in this type of thing will have fun with the app and actually coding the Ozobot on the computer, making it do what you want without a track.
We did a drawing for one lucky person to win the Ozobot. 
AND THE WINNER IS… is this cute kid!! 
I can just see his whole family getting a kick out of this. His older brother was there with us and was so intrigued by the Ozobot, I know they will take it home and their Dad will help them take it to the highest level.
I was bummed that I couldn’t give one to every one of those boys. I know some of them went home disappointed but Tryazon sent some coupons for those who didn’t win. These would be great Christmas gifts for anyone ages 6+ and the price is reasonable. A starter kit is about $50. Go to ozobot.com for details
The Ozobot would also be awesome in the classroom as part of the STEM program. Educators should definitely check out the education section on their website.
“Our STEM education program presents an innovative way to teach subjects like programming, math and science in classrooms, after-school clubs or at home. See kids become engaged and inspired when topics come alive with the help of Ozobot.”
I give this toy/game/unit (whatever you want to call it) a 5 star, exciting, attention getting, makes you think, STEM, and reasonably priced!
SEE THE HAPPY
