Z is obsessed with Hexbug Nano robots. We have bought our share of Nano tracks and considered buying more when we discovered the new Battle Arena. But I balked at the price when I checked the set out at our local Target. It's a great idea, and she loves using the tracks she has now. But for $50+, it (like so many things I see this year) just doesn't seem like much toy for the price tag. So I was pleased as punch to discover how easy it was, using Legos, to make our own custom-built habitats.

Our first is a racetrack featuring a starting gate for three contenders, a "push-through" gate to test robot strength, doorways that must be discovered and passed through, and a maze section just before the finish line.


The one challenge has turned out to be that these robots' storebought habitats are hexagonal for more reasons than one: They don't do well with square corners. A bit of Nano modding (a lightweight nose attachment) might solve that problem.



Z highly recommends Hexbug Nano robots. I'm very into the idea of making our own (we have been junk roboticists since Z was a toddler) but without a simple lightweight on-off option they aren't quite convenient enough for the way she uses these things.

Zoob building sets' claim to fame is that their five-piece building system mirrors the five nucleic acids that are the building blocks of life. I'm not sure how that is relevant to the process of building a walking bulldozer Princess Jasmine can drive via an imaginary microphone, but I'm sure there's a connection.

If you haven't guessed already, this is what really got us interested in the Zoob system. We love building robots, and we aren't ashamed of our parasitic harvesting of parts from other toys and devices. We let other people do the hard parts so we can focus on being creative. And that's what we were looking for when we asked Zoob to send us their ZoobMover Power Building Set to check out. I'll get into the details of how it all comes together in a minute, but the first thing you should know about this toy is that it will have your child squealing with frolicsome delight while it noisily grinds around the floor, sucking juice from its five batteries (four AA, one 9V, all included).



Z enjoys playing with building toys, and we frequently review them - Plan's lovely construction set, Bonz, Tinker Toys, Automoblox, Wedgits. We got a lot of mileage out of Mega Bloks back when Z was a toddler. But I've been looking for a less, well, blocky building toy that would captivate her. A robot seemed like a good point of entry.

But the foundational architecture of the Zoob system has some surprising limitations. There is a ball-and-socket connection that forms a joint that moves in two directions, and notches in the center of pieces that allow them to snap in an X-shape; all well and good. But another of the pieces' primary connections is for the "sockets" to snap together, each forming two sides of a rounded rectangular linkage, and these linkages are both awkward to snap together (with a moderate error rate even for adult users) and don't have much structural strength (they collapse easily when you are building with them).

Overall, at least in the fifty-piece set of building pieces that come with the ZoobMover, the five building blocks had us more conscious of the constraints of the system than its possibilities. I think someone with a different background could explain this problem in more mathematical terms - the number of possible connections and variations - but my explanation will have to remain at this level: They didn't feel very open-ended.


Of course, that's less of an issue when you're building a walking robot. The ZoobMover's gearbox is a great idea - it has open sockets for six legs and rocking nubby parts at each end and on the top, and kids just build their own legs and jittery appendages. The motor is controlled by an R/C unit with two little joysticks, one for each side of its body; this means a reasonably adept user can turn tight circles as well as going forward or backward. (The controls are a bit tricky for Z at just under five, but certainly nothing too difficult for slightly older kids.) The resulting walker is the very kind of robot that is the most out of reach for amateur roboticists like Z and I. (Zoob also makes a set you can use to build an R/C car.)


And Princess Jasmine seems to enjoy patrolling the hinterlands of our kitchen and dining room in it.



The ZoobMover has an MSRP of $45 and retails for about $35 on Amazon. Other Zoob sets on offer cluster in the $30 to $50 range.

I recently ordered a package of a dozen poorly-made "Jumping Jellybean" wind-up toys from the Oriental Trading Company to use for DIY toy-building. Inspired by the TOMY Bumbling Boxing set we found at a garage sale a few weeks ago, Z and I cut the upper portions off a couple of the jellybeans (old scissors work fine), acquired the heads of some small discarded stuffed animals, and taped them up for painting, with adding arms to allow these two creatures to rush into each others' arms. We call them Hugging Robots.


This particular behavior is a favorite way for Z to greet a loved one who has been absent for some time. She doesn't just make a point of dropping what she is holding and racing into the arms of her beloved, who is expected to behave in a similar manner - she actively coaches them in advance over the phone that this is what they should do when they meet.

We have seen Hex Bugs in stores for a while and since they are typically displayed at the counter as an impulse buy, I was always curious but wary. Impulse buys are typically things you wouldn't buy if you weren't being impulsive, right? But I also have a keen interest in robotics for toddlers. So we went ahead and asked the company to send us one to see how they work.

Z's grandmother Karen has occasionally contributed here and on Gardenaut, and you'll see more of her and her husband Tim snacking on CDs and DVDs on Punnybop (we published her review of the great Yes to Running! live performance DVD by Bill Haley today, you can read it and see clips here). She was even more excited than I was about the Hex Bug. After playing with it extensively with Z one day, she declared it "a wind-up toy on steroids" and shared the following impressions:

Z couldn’t figure out what all the commotion was about as I jumped around waving this tiny roach-looking thing. I summoned her to the table and turned it on. She reacted with a little hesitation until I clapped my hands and the Hex Bug turned. Z became curious and moved closer. The Hex Bug moved toward her. I clapped my hands again and it turned. She moved even closer. It advanced again. Z timidly put her hand out and the Hex Bug turned away. Z was sold!

The next hour entailed much giggling and hand clapping which escalated to shouting and out right laughing as we figured out how to manipulation the motion of Charlie, our Hex Bug. By the way, while Charlie looks like a roach, Z is sure he is not. He is just a bug, a very nice bug.

So is Charlie appropriate for a four-year old? Well, yes and no. Charlie is great fun and he is often requested for play time with Z. He is, though, a bit delicate for the likes of an active four-year-old. But with proper supervision, Charlie the Hex Bug is a joy. Adults will want one too. If I had a cubicle, I’d want Charlie there to entertain my cubicle mates.

As you can tell from the above description, a Hex Bug can hear and can sense objects in its path by touch and avoid them. It then backs up in a half circle and moves forward in a different direction. It also responds to vibration. The Hex Bug is available in five distinctive shapes and colors, each sold separately for around $10. From tail to feelers the Hex Bug measures just about three inches long and weighs a little over half of an ounce. Batteries are included.

This means having more than one Hex Bug would be even more fun. I'm tempted to Bogart little Charlie, buy another one, pop them in a box lid with our Awika, and wow Z with their interactions.