So, Eric likes to make Lego Mindstorms robots. And Carl, who is 6, enjoys noodling around with them, too, but it's a little over his head. So, for Christmas, I got him a Lego WeDo robotics set. We finally got it out to mess around with yesterday (our computer was out of commission for over a week because of a hard drive failure, but we're up and running and measuring our storage in terabytes now, so it's all good). And we are thrilled with it.
WeDo comes with software; a collection of bricks, motors, and sensors in a reusable storage bin; and a big notebook full of information and instructions. There is also a set of four booklets, each with building instructions for three robots. I remember when we first got Mindstorms, how overwhelmed I felt--I just didn't know how to get started. WeDo, on the other hand, is made for schools, and I joked on Facebook yesterday that they're written like the subtext is, "Dear Elementary School Teacher, we realize it's possible that you just found out that in one hour you have to teach robotics to 27 second-graders, so we're going to make this easy on you." There are simple instructions and handy flowcharts about what to do first and what to do next. I love it.
The WeDo robots are powered by the computer's USB port, so they're always tethered; you're not going to be building a self-playing chess set or a robot that climbs a tree out of this thing. The building style is traditional brick based, so the things you make have that angular old-skool Lego look. (As opposed to Mindstorms, which uses a girder-and-connector style based on Lego Technics. I realize this will be technical blah blah for most of you. But I read a blog post about it recently and am trying to sound like I know more than I do.) But the things you build--two little birds that spin and dance, a sailboat that is tossed on a stormy sea, a clapping monkey--are very cute.
The programming interface is very bright and simple. WeDo has an icon-based graphical programming interface like Mindstorms, but much simplified (GeekDad has a screenshot here). Carl found it very easy to understand and use: you lay down a "start" block, then you can add blocks that run the motor, that play sounds, that act as a timer, and so on. You can have more than one program laid out on the screen at a time, and when you run a program, the block that is running lights up so you can easily connect what the robot is doing to what's in the program.
With Mindstorms, you have to write the program, compile it and download it to the robot's brick, and run it. If it doesn't work, you're back to the computer. It can make the de-bugging stage a bit lengthy. The WeDo interface makes trial-and-error quick and easy; you can write a program, run it, change it, find a bug, fix it, try something else, write a new program, and run it, all in about two minutes.
The trade-off, of course, is that the robots are very limited. You get a USB hub (kind of a little power brick), a motor, a tilt sensor, and a motion sensor. The designers have done a lot with a handful of gears and pulleys, but this is more like a tasty appetizer than a full robotics meal. With Mindstorms, there are a great many idea books, blogs, and websites, but not so with WeDo; at least not that I've found yet. I don't think it's leaked out of the schools market much. I'll be interested to see what Carl does when he's worked through the Activity Pack robots.
The WeDo activities are clearly designed to get kids thinking about how the gears, pulleys, and levers are operating. The interface for each activity starts with a short animated movie about the robot you're going to build, and then, before the building instructions, will say something like, "Our robot uses a motor to turn a small gear. The small gear turns a large gear, which operates a lever." I read it to Carl and he listens politely, but he really wants to get to the part where he can program the funny noises.
I paid an extra $50 or so for the Activity Pack, which has both building and programming instructions for a dozen projects, so the whole schmoo cost about $180, which is pricey (it's actually sold together as a "homeschool" pack now). I agree with some quibbles in GeekDad's review: if the computer didn't have dual monitors, I don't know how I'd have gotten out of the full-screen programming interface, and I still haven't quite figured out how saving programs and re-opening them works. The notebook could use a Quick Reference section; there was no easy way for me to look up how to save a program, for instance.
Still, I feel like we got our money's worth, and Carl has declared it the best Christmas present he ever got. The robots are simple to build and putting together programs is a snap. GeekDad says that you should consider whether you have younger relatives to hand it down to when deciding about the investment, and I admit I have already found myself wondering who among my homeschool pals might like to borrow it when Carl's done.
This is the second time I've bought something from Lego Education, and I've been pleased both times (the first time I got a set of Simple Machines activity kits), not least because of the little plastic bins everything comes in. Sometimes I browse the Lego Education catalog and think I could build my kids' whole curriculum out of it.
6 comments:
Thank you so much for this thoughtful review. multihull ing about buying this kit for my daughter and it's great to hear another mom's perspective. Since you are now more than a year out from this post, did Carl stick with it?
Yes, Carl did, and my almost-5-year-old enjoys it as well. Overall I've been very pleased with it.
I just ran into your blog because I was looking for reviews of LEGO Wedo. My daughter is only 5, but she's been enjoying the "Early Simple Machines" set and begging to start robotics. She saw some videos of things that people did with robotics on YouTube and now she's dying to do them, too. Of course, most of what she saw was Mindstorms, but I think that's a good bit away. She has two little sisters and one on the way, so I think we'd get a decent amount of mileage out of it.
Has Carl been able to put together fun projects of his own once he got through the planned projects? I'm wondering how hard it is to, say, make a swingset that swings itself, or a rabbit that lifts a carrot to its mouth, etc.
Hey, Sarah. "WeDo Review" is one of the most common search terms that bring people to my blog!
Carl has ended up not being my most robotically-interested kid. He enjoyed WeDo but he's much more into natural science--I've been having to buy dissection specimens for him.
However, I also have a not-quite-5 who is into building things, remote control stuff, things that move, and the WeDo set is just about right for him. He loves the simple robots and the relatively limited stuff they can do is fine for him.
Of course, he also loves the MindStorms robots my oldest and I build. I think overall we've gotten a lot more mileage out of Mindstorms, but for a kid who's really into it, WeDo could be great. And I think an interested kid with gifts in that direction could definitely put together some of her own models when she gets a little older or has more practice. I guess I keep coming back to the same conclusion: if this is a lot of money for your family, spend it someplace else. But if it's affordable for you, go for it. Especially if you've got a kid who wants to try it out.
I have a 5.5 year old who loves building things & playing with lego. He is fascinated with machines and asks lot of questions. I have introduced him to code.org and loves it.
I want to invest in a good robotics kit for him and would prefer to buy 1 thing which can last years, rather than buy a simple/powered machine set now, then wedo, and then mindstorms. Or only buy only the essential ones.
As wedo sensors & motors are not compatible with mindstorms (https://education.lego.com/en-gb/lesi/elementary/wedo-2/faqs) would it be better to buy mindstorms directly and give him the technics parts for the first few years and then use the robotics parts ?
Or, Is it better to buy a technics set now ? Not sure if that means a 25-40$ technics set which can build just 1 item like car or truck, or a simple, or a simple & powered machine set ? But doesn’t Mindstorms contain technics parts, so can’t i save by directly buying mindstorms ?
We currently have a Lego Duplo and a Lego bucket (the one which has lots of pieces and u can build lots of things) He doesn’t like repeating things, so i prefer not to buy those lego sets from which you can build only 1 model of a car or a truck.
On a side note, I also have a 2 year old who is fascinated by Lego Duplo and Mechanics , so all this will also pass on to her.
There are a lot of books with instructions for relatively simple robots using Mindstorms, that are very fun to do with younger kids who aren't ready to design and program on their own yet. If you can afford a Mindstorms set, it has the potential to get a lot of use over the years if the kids are into it. The sky's the limit depending on their talent and interest. And if they're not into it, Mindstorms sets hold their value really well—used sets sell for a good chunk of the retail price. I ended up feeling like our WeDo set was fun but limited.
We've never gotten into Technic, so I can't speak to that. But you're right that a lot of the building parts, the motors and so on, and the same or very similar with Mindstorms. I think you could do really well with a Mindstorms set and a couple of books. We're still on the previous generation, so I'm not sure what's available for the Evo sets, but No Starch Press publishes a lot of great Lego books. We had one called One-Kit Wonders that was great for building simple, cool, robots with the pieces that come in a basic Mindstorms set.
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