The only complaints I have about this robot is that in the hands of a child it could be broken fairly easily. It's speaker and microphone sit atop a spindly plastic neck, that the manual warns against using as a handle. I took two stars off for this deficiency; they should have made it from more durable materials. The toy does have a convenient metal handle to carry it with. Other than that, here's what I find good about it. The robot is simple to use and program. As one plays with the robot, their understanding of programming, arithmetic, even geometry as recon missions are planned for the robot. You are able to pre-record a series of five second sound bytes which the robot can be programmed to play at certain points along the programmed path it follows. You can also tell it to go to a particular place, play a sound --a question for instance, and then go into record mode to get the answer. It is saved as a sound which can be played on return of the robot.
The batteries, it takes C cells, seem to be holding up great considering the hours spent running the robot around the house. It's cleat tracks give it excellent mobility even over difficult to navigate carpet and I have operated it on the front lawn quite successfully. The robot has a small carry spot, a sort of open 'car trunk' in which one can place something as heavy as a can of pop and deliver it to a destination programmed.
Programming requires no programming experience! The robot is controlled by its own positional awareness which it accomplishes by counting how many times its treads rotate, and how man degrees it should turn. So to program the robot to go on a mission, you would press the buttons on its front control panel to indicate forward drive, how many inches or feet to travel, then programming its next move, you might press the turn button, and then select an angle of either 45 or 90 degrees. Then you would press the buttons to travel its next straight course, and for what distance. On it goes that way. If you wish to use the sound player or recorder, you can click on a speaker and then select the sound number to play at any point in the path. The same is true for recording, but you select the microphone icon.
I hope they build a slightly fancier version at some point that includes telepresence and return-to-start automatically. But for the price and for the capability, this is a wonderful learning toy that educates by fun induced stealth as it is used. While adults get a big kick out of the Recon robot, it is aimed at kids six years and up. But it makes a great office or home toy with almost endless opportunities for amusement.
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