Educational InsightsPYXEL A Coder's Best Friend - Programmable Coding Robot for Kids with Blockly & Python Languages, Learn Early Robotics, Kids Robot & STEM Gifts for Boys and Girls Ages 8+

I spent a little extra and purchased this from the amazon link as a lot of these robot-toy vendors are not reliable and the amazon return policy is a great cushion if it comes in as junk. FWIW, Amazon did damage the packaging. I inspected the internals and it looked OK and I charged it up. Held full charge for about a week while under the tree--great sign. Also, I have purchased designs from this company before--I was pleased then, but it was a little bit buggy( artie). However, things have changed and this product is spot on using 'blocky'. My children immediately recognized the interface and were able to get going with very little help--after setup. It failed to complete setup the first time around and I had to reset the device, but 2nd time went through without issue and I set it up with a 10 year old windows tablet--and it all works great with edge in windows10. On startup, there is sometimes an issue where edge won't draw the programming area (leaves it blank)... pressing escape triggers a redraw and there are zero issues after that. I like the dedicated/standalone operation where you connect via a dedicated wifi link to the webserver running on the device. THat means you don't need an internet connection to use this. Also means that just about any device with a web-browser stands a decent chance at working.... fire-tablets, androids, ipads, old laptops, chromebooks, etc.... just a solid interface choice by the designers and with all the bug fixes in their framework over the last few years... a really great overall experience. This line of devices is nearly ready for prime time... the setup and that occasional issue with the initial redraw in edge-browser (they recommend chrome, but I try not to install anything on my old win10 laptop) The setup I have is stable and can connect and run the battery down on the device without crashing. Just solid. Getting the wifi in windows to stay connected is a bit of an issue as sometimes windows will sort of blacklist an accesspoint if there is no internet access, there's a setting to ignore that and connect anyway, but that's one of a handful of setup issues that is mostly out of the designer's control (but a small installer could fix--they are just too busy rolling out products... so they'll get that done when they have time--I'm very excited to see what else they come up with in this space.) All in all... very happy with what they've done here and the kids like it too. (this is essentially a modern gender-neutral upgrade to 1979's BigTrak--has plenty for girls to like without making it unattractive to boys) I do think that something like this has a definite lifespan of usefulness. Not every child will want to explore the device fully, but it will teach sequential programming, loops, if-then, and even functions/subroutines with a touch of threading. So, while the capabilities exist for some pretty advanced programming topics, there is no advance coursework dedicated to it on this machine (but makes it fun for me to tinker with I suppose).

Got this as a gift for brother and sister 7, 8- They could not wait to play with it- They were totally surprised when it sat right as you tuned it on. They knew it is a coding toy, so they got out their tablet and then asked how to connect to it- I had to read the instructions and it connects over WiFi- After we got it connected, they both knew a little bit about Blockly so they started making it dance and sit right away- I forgot to charge it, so I had to charge it with the usb cord. Then they were making it do all sorts of funny stuff- They played with it for about 30min and then they were in the "python" part and really didn't know what that was- so we looked at the page and found the tutorials- There was a lot to type- but then they found the page that had the python codes- then they showed me how to copy and paste into the python part. They did not quite get it at first-- but then I helped a little bit- They were making it fart too... There is a remote that is called a "code activator" - They loved pushing all the buttons and making it do more stuff- I would recommend this- it was easy to use and seems to have a lot of really fun stuff for kids to learn. They said they will play with this a lot.

Edit: Lights died in a month; replacement unit never powered on - DOA. Extremely faulty and poor quality control for this price point. Amazon wouldn't send us a third unit and would only give us a full refund. We're probably better off for it. Dropped to 1 star - avoid this.My daughter spotted this in the dreaded Amazon catalog they send out before Christmas and it became her most-wanted item. Had it not been for this, I probably would have avoided it after seeing some videos and reading some reviews. Still, it did what it was supposed to and despite some awkward interface issues (the "website" you access on the dog to do the coding reminds me of an old Geocities page) and fidgety connection routines, we were able to make some fun codes and enjoy it.January 30th, all of the lights stopped working. The LEDs you program for the eyes and mouth were totally gone. Thank God Amazon extends the return window for Christmas as this was the next-to-last day to get a return. If it was solely up to me, I would've taken the refund in a heartbeat because, despite the early novelty, it hasn't seen much play (another reason to be spooked by the failing LEDs). But since it was THE Christmas gift of 2023, I am getting a replacement. Here's hoping it's more durable, but my expectations are low.I can't recommend this product -- there are more effective ways for kids to learn to code, and cheaper, too. That would be forgiven if the product were easier to use and would last more than the bare-minimum of days to avoid the return window.

It takes a minute to setup but once you read the directions, it’s good to go! No WiFi needed! The dog generates its own Bluetooth signal that is best connected to from a laptop. iPad functionality not great- wish it was better. My daughter loved setting up the codes and learning through the tutorials. Then, you can save them on the remote to show off what you designed. Great product, can’t wait to see its future versions improve.