KAI: The Artificial Intelligence Robot

In living memory, having a robot in the home that would respond to your commands was the stuff of sci-fi and, as far as some were concerned, lay firmly in the realms of make-believe. Granted, this thing isn’t going to be doing your household chores any time soon but we’ve got to start somewhere! And where better than as an affordable, educational tool? Imagine, as a kid, being able to ‘build-your-own’ robot that you can then program, how can that not be awesome?!

That’s exactly what this is. It comes in more than 100 pieces and forms a 6-legged robot with an LED ‘face’ that can swivel 360° at its waist to face whatever direction is needed. The building instructions are very clear and the actual act of building the robot really cements the mechanics behind the machine and is a great educational tool in and of itself – just be sure to supervise younger children (they recommend 10 years as the minimum age) due to electronic components and smaller parts. There is also a short comic in the manual that can really help to engage and fire up those imaginations. Once built, you can start training the AI via the KAI Robotics app. You can’t train it without this app so you’ll need to make sure you have a compatible device before you start – a checklist is provided via a QR code (p57 on the pdf manual so you can check before buying). The manual also has short history bytes about AI and it’s development and even a manual way to learn how AI learning works – giving a simple, easy to understand logic behind what is happening that any child should be able to pick up.

It’s not going to do their homework for them or wash the dishes when it’s their turn but it is going to reveal the potential of what this technology can do and how it affects the everyday world they are going to grow up in and they’re going to have fun while doing so, what’s not to like? RRP £100

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