Review Tuesday: esfuner 30-in-1 STEM Solar Robot Kit

 

Wesfuner 30-in-1 STEM Solar Robot Kit Toys, 243 Pieces Educational Building Science Experiment Kit for Kids Aged 8-12, Birthday Gifts Kids Aged 8 9 10 11 12 13 Years Old (White)

 

I always wanted to try one of these educational robot kits and finally got my chance, thanks to a friend who sent me this one as a gift. 

 

The first thing you notice is that this claims that you can build 30 different robots with the parts contained within this box that's isn't very large. No, I didn't think you can build all 30 an line them up. You open the box to find it PACKED with sprues of parts, some electrical components, plastic baggies, stickers, a sheet of cut vinyl, and a THICK instruction booklet. 

 

The first step is to liberate the parts from the sprues, there are OVER 200 PARTS! Most of the parts require precise trimming, the booklet suggests using a pair of side cutters, but a toe nail clipper would work just as well. The plastic used isn't as soft as a polyethylene, but not as hard as polystyrene. So it's fairly easy to cut apart. The instructions even offer warning on certain parts that require special care when cutting, so you don't ruin them. The kit comes with 8 baggies in another of equal size for a total of nine. The provide stickers to label each bag so you know what parts are contained in each bag, which makes it easier to find the parts needed to each assembly. There are a number of parts that don't have bags, that's because you use them for EVERY BUILD and will never need to be taken apart again. 

 

You start off building the "gear box." For every robot you build from this kit, this gearbox will be the essential component. Be very careful following the assembly instructions for this part because one misplaced gear and this thing will not work and you will need to take it apart and start over. This is when you are first introduced to the surprisingly potent 1.5 volt electric motor. It has a specific spot to orient it right for wiring and intersection with the gears. 

 

Once you get the gear box out of the way, this kit comes with TWO head options. In a way, this is kind of a trick of this kit. There are fifteen different robots that can be built with the parts provided, but since there are TWO HEADS, it DOUBLES the number of robots. There is ONE tank, but since there are two possible heads, they count it as TWO different robots. I would suggest selecting the head you like better because they function exactly the same way. I chose the one with the big bulbous eyes for maximum cuteness! The head, whichever YOU choose, is the power source. It contains a battery holder AND a solar cell. After you assemble the head you choose your power source by simply running wires to it. You can run the wires for the motor to the battery, or stick them into the coils for the solar panel. The instructions state the universal rule of current: red is positive and black is negative. Mine must've been wired in reverse because it spun backwards. Easy fix, reverse the wires and it spun correctly! I tested it with the battery first, worked well. I tested it with actual sunlight for the solar panel and it worked perfectly well. Things to keep in mind: There is no on/off switch. You shut it off by pulling a wire from the power source. The motor is surprisingly noisy. 

 

Now that everything is working, time to build a robot. The instructions are nicely detailed and explain every step to you. My first attempt was the one I immediately adored, the BUILD BOT. It's a relatively simple robot with two arms (that do nothing) and rolls on tracks. It's like a cute version of a Mars 'bot. It assembles fairly quickly and feels solid. 

 

Eventually I will test out all the other possible robots, but I can tell they are all well-engineered like this one. I will defer from the two water-bound bots. I don't want to lose this thing in water and burn out the motor.

 

As an adult, this was a fun project, but I don't think this is something I would get for an 8-10 year old to play with on their own. I build models as a hobby and snipping off all the parts in this kit was pretty time consuming. There ARE 200 parts after-all! Lining up the motor and gears is a little challenging. Snapping the head assembly is a little trickier than expected. None of these are insurmountable tasks, but if you are thinking about getting this for a child, you WILL want to make this a parent / child project to be sure it goes together right and works. A handy aspect about this kit is that all the parts in their bags fit nicely back into the box for easy storage. Once you start playing around with the parts, you can figure out YOUR own options and modify your own robots. Why not? Have fun with it!

 

AMAZON