Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My daughter is 10 and her school had a visitor who brought Ozobots for each child to play with. She was hooked. For Christmas, the ONLY gift that she repeatedly asked for was an Ozobot. Aside from the initial shocker – that this little robot is no larger than the green marbles that I used to play with as a kid (it’s seriously only like an inch wide), you’ll discover that it is REALLY cool but somewhat fragile. I would NOT place the Ozobot 2.0 on carpeting, dusty surfaces, or a table that has not first been wiped clean (and dry). The reason for this is that I believe the Ozobot would very easily sweep up a crumb, hair, dust particle, or lint when it is moving around and from what I read online, if this happens, your Ozobot might stop working. You’ll likely then have a VERY sad child (and feel cheated out of $50-60). Although my daughter interacted with these at school – she still required some parental guidance when opening and beginning to play with the Ozobot. Fortunately, the Starter Pack includes 25 half sheets of paper that basically are a “learn-as-you-go” tutorial and these sheets of paper are numbered 1-25 so you can keep them in order (the company should have printed this information on thicker card stock paper rather than regular paper – it would last longer). I cannot stress enough that you’ll want to guide your child through these 25 sheets of paper to fully learn how to properly use the Ozobot. Also included are 2 clear plastic sleeves that the individual half sheets of paper are inserted into when you are ready to begin to learn code. Your child can then write on the plastic sleeve with the markers (thereby preserving the instructions/practice sheets and games for future use). Just be aware that they need to allow the markers a few minutes to dry before placing their Ozobot on the sheet (the line markings wipe off with a damp paper towel). Additionally, there are 2 sheets of reusable static code "stickers" that can be placed on top of the plastic sleeve to make their own codes in the tutorial from page 16 - 25. The reusable static code "stickers" are pre-made dashes of different colors that your child will use to make a pattern with codes that will direct the Ozobot to go left, straight, right, line jump left, line jump straight, U-turn, spin, tornado, zigzag, back walk, etc. The first page of the hands-on-tutorial is "Prepare Ozobot for Play" which teaches your child to calibrate the Ozobot. You’ll need to calibrate the Ozobot often so don’t skip this step – if they get a green light, it’s calibrated. Red light means they need to try the calibration again. The Ozobot also turns off after calibrating so the side ON button needs to be pressed again once you’re ready to use your Ozobot for an activity. The next page is "Tip: Drawing Lines" which shows them illustrations of correct and incorrect lines and page 3 is "Make the Connection" (a simple worksheet of filling in the black lines for a path that Ozobot will follow so they get used to how wide the lines needs to be). These instructions get progressively more complex. The hardest part will be having your child wait a minute or 2 for the marker to dry on the plastic sleeve before they begin using their Ozobot (you’ll want to also prepare for some residual maker stains on their hands – it’s inevitable). Once the basics are learned through the 25 page hands-on-tutorial (it’s a lot of fun), kids can then use any sheet of white paper to draw their own codes with different colored markers and then watch the Ozobot travel along their custom made patterns. There are additional games and activities that you can print from the Ozobot.com website. If you have a tablet that is at least 9” – you can also play games on the tablet. They also include dice that you fold together to use in games with the Ozobot. There really are a lot of activities that your child can do with the Ozobot. Mine arrived pre-charged (which was a blessing because I forgot to take it out of the box before Christmas to ensure that it was). It arrives with most of the basics that your child will need. There are blue, green, red and black markers in this kit however don't feel compelled to purchase replacement markers from this company when you transition to writing on paper. Any wide tip marker will work - you just need to snip the end off to make a wide slanted edge. What I thought was interesting is that they did NOT include a Pod case (think of it as a carrying case) for the Ozobot in the starter pack and I can’t find them for sale on Amazon nor on the Ozobot website – This really should have been included in every Ozobot purchase. I purchased my daughter 2 Ozobots for Christmas so she would race with her brother. She received the blue BIT 2.0 starter pack and a black BIT 2.0 Ozobot (not a starter pack). Strangely, the black BIT Ozobot also included the Pod case that twisted open/closed so you could place the Ozobot inside and you could literally carry it in your pocket and not worry about damaging it. I REALLY wish the starter pack also included the Pod case in the starter pack. These little robots are AWESOME but they are fragile and need to be handled with care. I’m still trying to find an acceptable tiny case for the white/blue Ozobot and I’m astonished that a Pod case wasn’t included and I can’t find it for sale anywhere (I checked Amazon and the Ozobot website). Lastly, although there are skins (think of them as rubbery coverings) that you can place over top of the Ozobot to make them look different, my daughter hates them because of how difficult they are to remove. As she put it, “I’m scared to death that I’m going to break the Ozobot when I try to remove it because it is so tight.” There are a few sheets of stickers to “personalize” the Ozobot with the skins however we haven’t used them due to concern over breaking the Ozobot when taking the skin off (and you miss out on a lot of the light show when the skins are on because they conceal most of the blinking lights). One final note – if you decide to purchase 1 Ozobot, I would recommend the Starter pack 2.0 due to the 25 page tutorial activities. If you decide to buy 2 (like I did), I would recommend purchasing a starter pack AND a regular BIT Ozobot 2.0 (without the starter pack). Each one comes with unique games and activities that your child can play with and, the one WITHOUT the starter pack includes the plastic Pod case that will allow your child to more securely carry one Ozobot around. Overall, we really like these robots. The price fluctuates – I purchased the starter pack for around $50 and the Bit 2.0 (non-starter pack) for $44. I’d definitely recommend this product.