My daughter is very interested in robotics and I have a question

[Swampdude]

I have a 7 year old girl and a 5 year old boy. I also have a mindstorms kit. I don't think my daughter is ready for it yet. She plays with other basic lego's and until I see that shes putting things together with more intent and focus I don't think she's ready. But you know how kids are, they grow in spurts. So she could surprise me soon enough. Otherwise I think another year or so. Also you might run the risk of spoiling it for her in the future if she doesn't have success with it now. She might think it's not fun and dis it later on. Every kid is different, but most of the 7 year olds I know don't seem like they're mature enough for the focus required for that kit. Maybe a good thing to do would be to get a lego kit that comes with similar pieces but comes with a manual for building a couple specific things, and see if she can do that by herself. If so you could graduate her slowly. Definitely do not turn her loose alone on that mindstorms kit though. It needs to be explained quite intensely.

[JackN]

They aren't to advanced but they take a commitment so if you think she will commit to it and will pay attention to it get it.

[Ryan F.]

Just to offer a bit of a contrasting opinion here....I remember when I was little and the Lego mindstorms kits came out. I thought they were possibly the coolest things in the world...and wanted to get one. So I started saving up my pennies...(only would spend (1/4) of the money I had because I was "saving all that other money for college." I never got to my goal...only had about 40 bucks. Instead, I spent that on the Lego space shuttle. This spurred me and a friend to become obsessed with aircraft...we used to spend days and months drawing up ideas then trying to emulate them in Lego's. In fact...I swear the JSF team stole my idea for their lift fan (i put a ceiling fan in one of my aircraft so it could hover). I still talk with this friend who lives in Texas, and to this date both of us can think of nothing better than going into an aerospace related career. So the moral of the story here is...you might not have to get her something like the mindstorms kit. It may be cool...but there’s a point I think that it takes the imagination out of things. If you decide that your daughter isn't ready for the mindstorms kit, you might be surprised on how her ideas develop on her own.

[KTorak]

I'd highly recommend buying a Mindstorm kit for your daughter. Its a very easy to understand programing interfeace, when you use the mindstorm program. If she thinks it is "too easy", you can then move her up to programming in RoboLab. By the time she is 9, you will have agreat FLL programmer.

From experience, FLL is a great program. Even if you don't have much experience with robotics, you can coach a team. My dad got pulled into it and he has no knowledge of computers or anything of the nature and our team when to states the first year. If you can find a group of kids and you get the support the local school district, go ahead and start up a team, there's no reason you or your daughter can't get involved now.

[Erin Rapacki]

I recall a Lego League team in Mass that was made up entirely of 9 and 10 year olds.

Hey, your daughter might be a genious! I'd say GO for the Mindstorms kits (I loved playing with legos too when I was a kid). If the motors and programming is too much for her... let her start with building structures that she can physically move herself, then add the motors later on.

[Elgin Clock]

The great thing about lego's is, that they offer an easier way of moving things and creating kinetic motion besides electrically, and a little cheaper than the mindstorms kit.

Lego offers pneumatics. I had/have a lego set with pneumatics, and I remember when I got it, it was the coolest thing.
I found a link to the set I have:
http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p...4154164&rID=-2

While programming may be more your lines of expertise, than your daughters, the pneumatics part of lego can still accomplish way cool stuff, and is real simple to use.

All you need is some specialty lego parts; some lego technic piece, pneumatic pumps, and hoses, and a little air, and you can move stuff real easy.


This is a project which can be more suited for home use, but when I was younger the local college had a program for kids that age, and they still do called Kids on Campus. It was basically a science related summer program where you lerned all kinds of neat stuff.

One class was based on using lego kits, and making some really neat stuff.

I'm sure if your local university, or college doesn't have anything like that, then maybe the local park and rec does?

[Rich Wong]

I have three kids, the youngest is 9, and they love LEGO Mindstorm.
They can site for hours browsing thru the PITSCO catalog. (www.pitsco.com)
LEGO is not for kids only.

There are stuff in PITSCO that I want!

[evelyn1503]

you could allwase see if ther school is able to get a FLL team???? just an idea

[Cepak]

Thanks everyone. You've given me even more to think about.

[SuperJake]

I started out really early with robotics kits. Mindstorms was too expensive, so I went online and got some little hobby robotics kits. They usually come with a printed circuit board, all the components you need, and instructions on how to build it. These kits require solder and you don't have a lot of freedom as to what you build and what it does, but it teaches a lot about robotics and control theory. I spent my early teen years on these kits and they really sparked my interest in robotics. Plus, if you submit these robotics kits in science fairs and your are able to describe what is going on, you're virtually guaranteed a win of something like scholarships. Just Google "robotics kits" and you'll get a number of hits with kits for different skill levels. They definitely stand out apart from Lego's - and are a lot cheaper than the mindstorm kit!

[KelliV]

Originally Posted by shyra1353

there is always Knex (where you can build huge stuff like ferris wheels and roller coasters

I would reccomend against the K'Nex rollercoasters and ferris wheels. I have one that my brother got as a child... we built it once and then didn't touch it until a few days ago when a friend and I started to make a K'Nex version of the WildStang robot. I would reccomend buying smaller kits or the big boxes of legos & K'Nex that someone mentioned already, it is much more fun and creative!
-Kelli-

[tiffany34990]

i worked with a homeschool FLL team that had 7 years olds mixed with some 10 years...they held on their own...very creative when it came to the project and the younger ones just had so many ways to approach the various tasks...give them a few pieces and they just rapidly figure a way out...ask a few questions but something always seemed to work out eventually...

this just reminds me of a mentor's kid...he is about 7 and comes to our pit making toy cars and scooters and stuff out of pvc, plywoods and such....he just picks up the cordless drill and goes for it...we watch him of course....but little kids can be amazing...

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by EricH

I'll agree on everything except number of motors. I sure wish there were three! The basic, off-the-shelf version has only two motors, two touch sensors, and one light sensor. If that isn't enough, get an expansion pack which may have more of whatever you need more of. LEGO makes several expansion packs.

Ah yes that's right. I'm so used to having the 3 motors to work with. What I meant to say is that the Lego Mindstorms RCX supports three motors, but you only get two in the starter kit. Still this is good because it make things more simple and that's not bad when starting with the mindstorms kit.

[Ashley Christine]

Well, whatever you decide to do, juat make sure you keep her interested in these kinds of things. I believe that I heard somewhere that girls start to lose there creativity/boyeshness [I am not sure what to call it] around 10. So keep her involved with these things, I am always for girls being involved in these types of areas. Dont let her lose interest! [When I was little I played video games, with legos, making abstract things, and then in junior high I lost all that and there was a time that I didnt do much. then robotics came and got me back into what I realized I really like!]

-Ashley

[R Stephenson]

if you are thinking of starting your own team team you should search

http://www.usfirst.org/jrobtcs/flego.htm