Customer Reviews

OWI Rockit Robot Kit - Soldering Required

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I reviewed a lot of robot kits for myself and my 10 y.o., and most seemed overpriced, uninteresting, or both. The Rockit, however, is clever and well thought-out. A robot that responds to sound as opposed to light or touch is innovative, including the clever reverse-and-turn mechanism used here (if you care to search there is a hobby website with video of the robot in action). The kit involves is a significant amount of soldering, perhaps 25 components, but does about the best job of helping you match components to circuit board that I have ever seen. Consider the slightly more expensive prebuilt board version if you are not comfortable with soldering. The plastic pieces are tricky to assemble, mostly to figure out which piece does what in the somewhat strange design, and aligning the drivetrain is finicky. Allow a couple hours and a reasonable amount of patience to build it.

The result is impressive, even more so for the price. I recommend this without hesitation and will consider other products of this company more closely.

This robot is not the best one. It is an easy assemble until the wheels. The crankshaft and the gear on the motor do not line up. The wheels move right or left. I had to move the crankshaft all the way over so it would stay put. All the robot does is roll around and if you clap it turns around. This robot was not very fun for me. I would not recommend this toy.

Teddy S.

The manufacturer claims this is a good beginner kit, so I purchased the model that doesn't require soldering for my son. He worked hard putting it together by following the instructions, which were not easy to read or follow. After three tries, the rear axle continued to malfunction. Even with my help and help from the Troubleshooting section, the axle would not connect to the crown gear or the pinion. So we have a robot that doesn't work. My opinion is that the rear axle was poorly designed to begin with, which is why it malfunctions and why it's listed in the Troubleshooting section. The manufacturer should have corrected the problem before releasing the product. After all, the axle is a primary working part! A very disappointing product.

Purchased special order from local toy shop, with just 24 hours lead time. Recipient is 5 years old, and nuts about robots in general. We put it together in about two hours, with the only glitch being that the crown gear was inadvertently installed backwards, either due to dyslexia or the poorly laid out diagram; nonetheless a quick fix. Adjusting the axle and gears properly is important, and first getting the axle length just right helps. I am glad, however, that we opted for the no-solder version.

The robot's action is fun, in my opinion. Remote control toys seem to have a lack of unpredictability by comparison. Putting it together was fun as well.

I put this robot together after building the Sandwich robot from Robot Building for Beginners (Technology in Action), and Sandwich was the better of the two projects. The first night I tried building Rockit, I got stuck on trying to put the front wheel on its mount. This problem was solved by figuring out that the nut is supposed to go in the slot in the plastic, which the directions did not emphasize clearly enough -- I was too busy trying to fit it on the outside of the screw and plastic. After overcoming that problem, I soldered the circuit together and assembled the body, and when I turned the power switch on, the robot immediately started running in reverse and stayed that way. No amount of running into walls or clapping could get it to change direction. My father came up with the idea to reverse the motor connections, so I reversed them from what the directions show, and Rockit started moving forward. This seems like a problem solved, but it still will not react to sounds or collisions, only going forward until it jams itself on an object.

If anyone has any ideas how to fix this problem, or if the makers of this product read this review, I would appreciate some input on my dilemma. Otherwise, I cannot give this kit more than 3 stars. It was fun to assemble aside from the times I got stuck on it, and I'm sure it makes a clever little robot when it works. As mine stands, though, it is a forever forward-moving tricycle with no problem-solving or intelligence.