As regular readers may have deduced, I am a Kickstarter addict. So, when I saw Edison on Kickstarter last year for a very affordable price, I jumped at being one of the backers. Edison arrived right before Christmas – perfect timing for me to check out its features before bringing it into the classroom.
Edison is not as cute as Dash and Dot, but don’t underestimate its ability to capture the attention of your students. For $49, it’s a compact robot that does a lot.
For starters, you can download the free Controller Pack that allows you to automatically program Edison by rolling it over different barcodes. Depending on the barcode, Edison will respond to light, sound, and obstacles. It can also detect dark lines. You can even use bar codes to program it to move using any household remote control.
To be honest, that’s about all I would expect for $49. But there is more. Edison can also be programmed by connecting it to the computer and using a free program called Edware. My students haven’t tried this yet (we can’t download unapproved software to district computers) but I have a workaround in mind to get them up and running with that.
Oh, and that’s not all! Edison is also Lego compatible. So, if you aren’t happy with Edison’s less than charming appearance, then go ahead and change it!
There are different packs of Edisons available now that it is no longer on Kickstarter. If you are interested in getting your students excited about creativity, problem-solving, and programming, you might want to consider this nifty little robot.
