Miniature Programmed Robot

Product Description

Sparki is an affordable, easy to use, and fun intro to programming, electronics, and robotics. It is geared towards kids elementary-age and above, educators looking for an easy intro to robotics, parents eager to find something affordable but educational and fun, DIY enthusiasts, and more. It is simple enough for beginners, while being feature-packed enough to be a must-have for pro-users. Sparki is your chance to have your very own robot, completely open source and available to do your bidding. Sparki has already been sold in 51 countries. It has been featured on Fast Company, Boston Globe, MAKE, Kickstarter Staff Pick, Ars Technica and more. Sparki is ArcBotics’ answer to robotics in STEM education, and is being used in classrooms around the world. Here are some of the things you’ll learn how to do: Edge avoidance, Line following, Maze solving, Wall avoidance, Room navigation, Object retrieval, Follow/hide from light sources and Shape drawing. Spark’s programming comes available in both Arduino code (C/C++) and drag-and-drop programming, all open-source. Sparki components: 1x Ultrasonic distance sensor (get distance from Sparki to walls/objects), 1x 3-Axis Accelerometer (pick-up detection, fall detection, hill climbing), 1x 3-Axis Magnetometer (sense the magnetic field around Sparki, coordinate with accelerometer to detect compass heading), 3x Light-sensing phototransistors (light following, darkness seeking), 5x Line-following and edge detection sensors (mazes, line follow, sumo), 1x 128x64 Graphic LCD, 1x RGB LED (RGB = generate any color!), 1x Buzzer (beeping, booping, and musical tones!), 1x IR Transmitter (like your TV remote control), 1x IR Receiver (like your TV), 1x IR Remote control (lots of buttons to control Sparki with), 1x TTL Serial port for expansion (talk to an Arduino/Raspberry Pi), 1x Port for Bluetooth Serial Module (not in all rewards), Powered by 4xAA batteries (rechargeable or alkaline), 2x Geared stepper motors (precise, measured movement down to millimeters/ sub-degrees), Marker holder for drawing, USB cable and ABS plastic construction, durable and suitable for drawing.

Features

• Complete Educational Platform: Sparki is used by 2000+ top middle schools, high schools, universities, and STEM programs like Stanford, MIT, Purdue and FIRST Robotics for being an all-in-one solution to teach students 9+ robotics, coding and electronics.
• Infinite Possibilities: Learn to program over 40 parts including an LCD display, grippers for grabbing objects, line following sensors for mazes, remote control, speakers for music, light sensors, distance sensor, edge detection sensors, motor wheels, and more! All open source hardware and software. Board is based on Arduino so you can expand on Sparki and make it your dream robot.
• Over 100 Lessons: Open source lessons written by professional educators. Lessons designed for complete beginners to advanced students of robotics, coding, and electronics. View our lessons now on our website to see the activities you will learn. We constantly expand lessons based on community feedback. We offer excellent support from our Cali-based team, and have active global forums.
• No Complicated Assembly: Sparki comes preassembled, ready to go out-of-the-box with all its accessories like remote control, a maze following poster, line following poster, Sparki-fitted pen/pencil, USB cable, Bluetooth module. No costly expansion packs. We're here for you if you ever need replacement parts.
• Many Programming Options: Programming environments include drag-and-drop blocks similar to Scratch, Arduino code (C/C++), and Chromebooks. Beginners start learning with colorful blocks to create simple programs, then transition easily to Arduino code.

Top Reviews

Sparki the robot
by Amazon Customer (4 out of 5 stars)
January 10, 2017

My son really loved it. It was easy for him to put together. His Robotics class at school is just now showing their students to program. He likes the way it can pick up things. This is a good product to buy kids that love robotics.

Thanks.
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Awesome product for Learning and Bonding with your child!
by Brad (5 out of 5 stars)
February 14, 2017

ArcBotics Sparki is so awesome. My 11 year old daughter indicated an interest in learning how to program and I thought to myself what better way to learn than to have something that a child can see and touch. I first thought about having her program an iPhone app but then thought a robot would be more tangible. I did some research and decided on ArcBotics and I am confident I made the right choice. Sparki has a ton of things to control - sensors, wheels, grippers, lights, etc. The programming can be as simple as you want to make it and it was actually a thrill for my daughter to just programming Sparki to move forward and backward the first time. Of course we are on to bigger and better things now.

I really think this is going to both give her confidence that she can learn and build anything and it will set her up very well if she wants to pursue anything related to programming and computers. Our children are users of technology but being a user is not in any way like being a programmer where you actually have to think about a design and then build it.

As far as the product I love it. On the one hand it comes all ready to go out of the box. Absolutely no assembling of computer boards, etc. On the other hand it doesn't hide the components and allows you to literally visually explore all of it's exposed capabilities. It can look a little daunting at first if you are a newbie to electronics but it is very easy to use. It seems very solidly built given all of the delicate electronics.

Finally, the web site is very helpful. ArcBotics has clearly invested a lot of time providing lot's of lessons and information. There is ample information about Sparki himself (about the use of Stepper motors for the wheels which are different than the electric motors in most toys I learned, about rack and pinion drive for the grippers, etc.) and lots of programming lessons that make it very understandable. And their customer service is great and responsive to emails and ready to support.

I am glad they made this product and wish them well.
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Need experience to use this
by c. steve (1 out of 5 stars)
January 5, 2017

I was really disappointed with Sparki. We bought Sparki for our 9 year old who started taking a robotics class. From reading the description of Sparki & the reviews, it seems like he can really do a lot, and I'm sure it can. However, unless you have robotics/programming experience, he's useless. We've figured out how to use the remote and make him move using the arrows (imagine a really slow remote control car that can move his arms to drag things). But when trying to program him using their 'Bloq' programming, it didn't work. They have a website with "instructions" and "steps" that give an example of how to Bloq program, however, we couldn't find the bloqs they used. I need instructions that tell you step by step what to do and what each of the bloqs mean. We tried to mimic their simple program of dragging a bloq to make him move forward (which was the arrow) then we tried to find the "10" that they used in the example to make him move 10 centimeters and couldn't find it. So we tried a button other than the 10 - we thought it would make him move for a few seconds. We Run the program and get an error. We try other bloqs - no luck. We can't get a program to run without getting an error. We're not stupid people - we both have accounting degrees and MBAs, but i think without a background in robotics (or knowing what these darn bloqs mean), he's useless. **Please make better instructions**
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We love our Sparki!
by Geekzer (5 out of 5 stars)
April 27, 2015

Great product! I am using this to teach my 10 year old granddaughter basic programming and a little engineering. She loves it! We had one minor problem with the unit as received (the LCD screen would not work), and Arcbotics' response was top-notch - they furnished an entire new board with instructions via YouTube on replacement, which provided my granddaughter a great hands-on learning experience in robot "brain" transplanting!

This is a real bargain considering the various types of sensor, the 3 servo motors, the included blue-tooth module and the web based lessons, examples, and iconbased miniBlok and Sparkiduino (C++) programming IDEs.
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It is well made and easy to use
by JBJ (5 out of 5 stars)
August 27, 2017

I think that Sparki lives up to its reputation. It is well made and easy to use. The two modes of programming is a nice touch. C++ is a difficult to learn. But if a child has used code.org, the block-based programming(SparkiDuino) they offer is quite similar and easy to learn.

Lots of fun for "kids" interested in robotics.
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Precioso
by Miguel Ayala (5 out of 5 stars)
December 27, 2018

Excelente... Para entender la Robótica
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I love this robot
by PG (5 out of 5 stars)
March 25, 2018

I love this robot! I purchased this for my 7 and 9 year old sons. I've been teaching them programming off and on for a little while, and really wanted to find something that could help bring the lessons to life. What better way to do that then with a programmable robot! I've had this plan in mind for a very long time, and searched everywhere for a robot to incorporate into my lessons much earlier than when I started to conduct them. I have to say, most of what I found was lacking, and only offered a "drag and drop" kind of programming. I found only one comparable robot with a "real" programming option, but it was a nightmare to try to get it working. Sparki, on the other hand, worked right out of the box. It was as simple as downloading the program from their website and connecting the robot. It even came with a full series of C based programming tutorials to get started. This was really great start, but what really made Sparki a perfect educational tool was that there's now a Python library, allowing one to program Sparki in a very easy to learn and intuitive language. In a nutshell, Sparki is great for those wanting to give their kids an exciting introduction to programming.
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borderline painful to use
by R. Peach (1 out of 5 stars)
September 25, 2018

Very neat. But very frustrating, borderline painful to use. Be prepared to set aside a lot of time to get it going. Instructions are good for starting a small fire, not much else. Eventually gave up and bought something else.
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Awesome robot that makes code come to life
by Sarah Y (5 out of 5 stars)
November 30, 2016

As a software developer, I'm used to creating things I can see but not touch, so it was really rewarding to see Sparki buzz around my apartment, following my code. My favorite part was writing messages on the LCD screen for my husband to read. I felt like a kid tinkering around with this robot and I'm sure any curious child would love it too.
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It is fun to play with it
by yoonghm (4 out of 5 stars)
July 8, 2018

It is fun to play with it. The online learning materials are useful. The only problem is that the microcontroller has limited flash size, hence I could not write more complication programs in it.

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