14 in 1 Educational Solar Robot Kit (New) by OWI Robotics

Ok, so I bought this set for my 8 year old, and thought that like Lego parts would fit in, and basically for his STEM training.1. Parts don't fit easily. Lot of confusion regarding which part will go where.2. After a lot of permutation combination if actually the parts do fit, the MOTOR IS SO Weak that it ruins the hours you've spent on assembly.3. Won't work indoors unless you have a 100 Watts lamp glowing over it's Solar Panel.All in all ~ Disappointment. Good Idea, but badly executed product.

Doesnt mention OWI anywhere on the kit.Not happy with the quality!

Very bad game motor not able to fit in its gear box instructions manual in Chinese which i cant read

Not good at all. Gear arrangements & alignments are pathetic & not usable at all. It is just an show piece.

Excellent product. But needs provision of battery also as solar panel not sufficient to power many models. Overall very good quality and creative for a child.

Its a bit fiddly, lots of tiny parts, wires are delicate. But a great toy for its price

Not at all worth for the money. Motor is not working.

Did not work at all, not happy,

This is an amazingly fun way to introduce robotics to your kid. I have spent several nights with my 3 year old, building up and tearing down different robots. This kit has allowed me to introduce to my son concepts such as solar energy and gears. It's also allowed me to show him how to follow directions by matching letters and numbers on the guide with the letters and numbers on the grid.The parts are not perfect, nor some of the robots. For example, several robot models are extremely sensitive and will not work if the wheels are not lined up perfectly. Not a problem, however, since this allowed my son and I an opportunity to "experiment", to discover what was wrong. Also, the water-based robots are not very good -- the plastic is not very friendly to work with. Other robots, however, work perfectly fine and are a lot of fun to watch come alive.Overall, the product is quirky, but when you consider how much it costs for what you get, it is a super bargain. It's a great way to have fun with your kid while introducing important concepts. I highly recommend it.

My Grandson of 11 loved this product. It does require a bit of patience and a careful hand to separate the numerous pieces from their mold frames. Adhesive tags were supplied along with small plastic bags for sorting and identifying the construction piece groupings. No adhesive or tools are actually required for assembly or disassembly. Although a good pair of small diagonal cutters and a needle nose plyers are a great help.He made two designs which worked great. Remember these are solar powered with no reserve energy, so they require direct sunlight to function. He disassembled his first robot and went right into a second design. The product demanded tremendous attention to detail and hand motor skills. This is a wonderful teaching and learning experience. The price offered here was 10 dollars less than retail and using PRIME there was no shipping cost. It was SUPER deal.

This is a tough one to rate...For $25, this kit is an absolute STEAL for what you actually get, you just have to spend a bit of time on the initial pre-work. First off, you'll have to spend about 2 hours snipping all of the parts out of their break out molds and then filing them down. For this you'll need a small pair of cutters and a decent flat file. The second issue is the gear box. Because the gears are all loose fitting plastic, there are some major problems with the operation of the gearbox. It's not smooth, needs to have several coats of lithium grease applied to each gear, and probably isn't going to last very long.That being said, if you're looking to sit down with your children and you're willing to spend two to four hours getting the kit 'set up', this is the kit for you! Removing and filing down the parts is the most tedious part, but you also have to get all the parts separated and into the 10 or so bags that you have to put labels on. After that, it's all just fun taking the robot apart and rearranging it into it's other configurations.It's also hard to put an appropriate age on this product. Children under 10 probably aren't going to have the patience to get the initial setup out of the way. I've also noticed that some parts can't be inserted into each other without the use of a small pair of pliers. I would think that kids would have to be older than 10 to get some of the smaller parts into the holes without breaking them. It takes patience and a good set of small pliers to put the robot together and take it back apart without damaging it.Make sure that you and your children wear safety glasses when assembling the toys. There are many small parts that can go flying when you're building. It's a good idea to keep an eye on younger kids while they're playing with this kit, that way they can ask you for help if they run into any problems while building. I'm guessing that older kids should have no problems changing the robot into different configurations.This toy takes quite a bit of light to get it moving. You'll have to use it on an extremely sunny day, in direct sunlight. If you want to test out the gearbox indoors, you have to hold it next to a 60 watt incandescent light for test purposes. There is really no way this can be used indoors (other than building it indoors). For it to actually move, I had to hold my Fenix TK-75 flashlight about 3 inches from the solar panel. It takes a lot of bright light to get the toy moving!

Amazingly engineered, terribly manufactured. The amount of stuff you can do with this is amazing. Someone was exceptionally smart when they engineered this. You can make so many different gear trains, it's crazy complex, it's an engineering marvel how many different things you can make with little plastic parts.On the other hand- the parts don't seem to be manufactured to a good tolerance level. Everything is very difficult to put together, and the casting marks cause issues, where you have to shave them off. Additionally, the gears don't come together tight enough, so most of the robots don't walk/ roll very well, because when the wheels/ arms hit any kind of friction on the ground, the gears slip, because there is less friction between the gears than the arms (even going over small cracks or irregularities on the surface it's moving on).The instructions are pretty bad/ confusing, and you'll be more often than not putting it together with half guesswork, especially the basic gearbox that is required for every robot (at least you only have to build that once- well, until you realize the gears in it slip, and you have to push them together slightly tighter multiple times until they are tight enough to handle slight friction on the bottom gear).I bought this for my nephew who is a little younger than the recommended age, but this was challenging for all the adults involved- I'd say just about anyone will have problems putting this together, and wouldn't recommend anyone below 16 try it by themselves.I would recommend it to anyone who wants to see how to build a ton of robots, and an engineering masterpiece - but I wouldn't buy it for anyone who isn't prepared to be let down when most of the robots just barely work/ can't really run well (without gear slippage).

We gave this to our 11-year old for Christmas. It was hard to find at the time but well worth the search! Our son's face lit up like the Christmas tree when he saw this and he got to work as soon as we were done with gifts. I LOVE the packages it comes with. Made separating and organizing the kit a breeze. I wish every company thought of such things. My husband did have to help him get some of the pieces separated and they are engineered a bit rough, as other reviewers had mentioned. Thankfully, Daddy knows enough about these things to help him and got them to do what he needed to do, but unknowledgeable Mommys like myself might have trouble.The robots do work with a flashlight aimed directly at the panel so they can be played with inside. Just make sure you have a nice, bright flashlight.Well worth the money for the educational and fun value!