DIY Robot Building Kit

Product Description

The Jimu Robot Inventor Kit is a DIY, Bluetooth app-enabled robotics building kit. The Inventor Kit includes a central control unit, 16 highly accurate digital servo motors, servo connector wires, lithium battery pack and power adapter, 675 interlocking parts with easy snap-in design and quick links to the Jimu App and quick start guides. The Jimu Robot Inventor Kit is the big brother in the Jimu lineup that lets you build bigger, more advanced robots and includes everything you need to get started building robots today.

The Jimu App provides stunning step-by-step building instructions with 360 degree pan, tilt, and zoom capability. The Official Jimu Models provided in the App will help you learn how to build beginner to advanced robots with pre-programmed actions for you to play with, manipulate, and make uniquely your own. The App also provides you access to the Jimu Global community where designs for user-generated robots and actions can be shared with Jimu Inventors around the world! The Jimu App is available for iOS and Android Devices.

The incredibly fast and accurate digital servos allow your Jimu to perform amazing movements from the menu of pre-programmed actions or new actions you create with the action capture function in the app that easily records complex movements and allows you to fine tune, save and replay them with your robot. The Jimu Robot Inventor Kit and App platform make for a great addition to any STEM curriculum, teaching today's youth highly relevant skills in programming and robotics to better prepare them for the world of tomorrow.

Features

• 1. 675 snap together parts let you build any one of six animal creations or create your own brand-new codeable creation.
• 2. Program the robot to walk, move, play, and more using Blockly coding in the JIMU app.
• 3. Create custom actions with the PRP (Pose, Record, Play) function.
• 4. STEM principals like programming, If This Then That Algorithm logic, Physics, and Collaboration introduced to your child through play.
• 5. No tools required – our 3D, 360° animated building instructions make assembling robots easy and fun
• 6. Awards include Tillywig 2018 Brain Child Award, CES 2017 Innovation Awards Honoree, Time to Play Magazine 2016 Holiday Most Wanted List, and IFA Awards 2015 Best of Show
• 7. Recommended for ages 8+

Top Reviews

A great learning kit that is fun and challenging
by ddlittlejohn (5 out of 5 stars)
November 14, 2018

I bought this to build with my 8 year old daughter, and was surprised and pleased with how much fun this was for us to work on. It was much like a kit of Lego's, following the instructions and putting it together with the help of the app - we both enjoyed this part. Once it was done and we started looking at the various pre-coded items that were in the app, and how it reacted, we dug into building some of our own. I don't think it was overly difficult to understand, or build, for her, it just took a little bit of trial and error. This is a really 'fun' learning robot that we are both enjoying!!
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Fun kids friendly design, so-so performance, bad design choices.
by eegmanz (2 out of 5 stars)
September 29, 2017

Jimu Tankbot is one of those products that seems to offer great potential, at least when you see it and read about it on UBTECH or Amazon site. Once the box is open, the robot assembled, Jimu fails to deliver. It's hard not to like cute design, goofy eyes, and close resemblance to Pixar animated robot. The personality is there and kids love it! But this is also where experience starts sliding down the hill. I purchased this for my 7yo son with notion that we'll build the robot, play in interactive mode which will then lead to more interest in programming, creating and navigating obstacle courses by using Blocky programming language, use built-in IR sensor for obstacle avoidance etc. The Jimu system performance is underwhelming, some design choices are simply bad. Things that we love and hate about Jimu: PROS 1. Large number of servos (take a note LEGO) - this is by far #1 strength of this kit (and most other Jimu kits). Unlike LEGO Mindstorm that costs twice as much and give you basic 3 servos, this little kit comes with no less then 6. UBTECH was smart about servo connectivity and unlike LEGO that limits you to 4 servo/4 sensors (one servo per port unless splicing cables which doubles number of servos but makes them one-way), Jimu will let you connect servos in series (daisy chain) with each of 6 ports on the control brick. Maximum recommended number of servos is staggering 32!!. LEGO cannot match this unless you buy multiple control bricks at $189 each. 2. Jimu robot is easy to expand. UBTECH sells 2- servo expansion for $39. You can also use parts from other Jimu kits - i.e. two Tankbots kits will get you 12 servos!! 3. Jimu kits are relatively affordable. Relatively for what they offer and what's included, but be sure to read CONS before you get excited. 4. Included battery life is very good. Make sure to charge the battery before you start building the robot. The control brick is part of the robot body, once you are in middle of the build charging wire will be in the way. It's rather disappointing to kids to have robot built just to find the battery needs an hour or so to charge! It's Lithium Polymer battery, so I do not blame UBTECH for delivering them half-charged, but this has been one of few minor complaints among Amazon customers. Charge yoru battery BEFORE you start building. 5. Apple Playgrounds app support some of Jimu models, but not Tankbot. Perhaps in the future they will support make-your-own Jimu bot and let users control their own Jimu c
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User friendly app design makes building, playing, and learning easy
by J.N. (5 out of 5 stars)
November 4, 2018

We own the BuilderBots kit and initially found it daunting to build by the sheer number of parts. Fortunately, the JIMU app has a very impressive user interface that makes navigating, building, coding, and play easy for kids and adults alike. Without the app's 3D building assisted functionality, it would have taken me days instead of hours to build. Don't get me wrong, it is still challenging to build, but as a STEM toy, I would be disappointed if it didn't challenge my daughter (and me). The Unicornbot Kit is no exception and she was super excited to build a purple unicorn, her two favorite things. You can simply use the JIMU app to control the bot the same as you would a traditional remote control "car" via Bluetooth, but where it shines (as a STEM toy) is the coding aspect. Coding is complex, but the JIMU app breaks it down to simple commands. It also helps that they provide some pre-program actions that is already coded that you can go in and modify. If you are in need of further assistance with coding, you can use Blockly (the question mark icon) to get an explanation of commands/action trigger types. Generally speaking, this is one of the more advance STEM toys my daughter owns and I would recommend going through the lessons under the Learn section of the JIMU app if this is your first bot. Kudos to UBTECH for developing the UnicornBot kit. Although my daughter enjoys playing with her BuildBots kit, she overwhelming loves her UnicornBot kit and plays with it more often. Thanks!
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Innovative, educational, cool and unique STEM robot for girls ages 8-12!
by Jackie (5 out of 5 stars)
November 13, 2018

I have to say that the UnicoronBot is the coolest thing I have ever bought my twin girls age 10! They loved the building aspect of the robot as there is an app that guides them so they could do it independently and it gave them a great sense of accomplishment. And the coding of the robot was something they have never done or seen before and loved it. They even told their science and computer teacher about it. I struggled before to get them interested in STEM, as I gotten them a STEM coding toy before, but they weren't interested. Finally I feel like this has motivated them in a positive way towards building and coding. It would be an amazing holiday gift and something they can do over winter break.
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Perfect Toy for STEM Learning
by K. Chiu (5 out of 5 stars)
October 12, 2017

My engineer brother has been wanting to get his 2 young kids (ages 8 and 10) more into STEM. Not too long ago, I came across some articles online about toy robots for STEM education which lead me to finding Jimu Robot. They're basically...TOY ROBOTS... how cool is that?! Anyways, I ended up ordering some other sets as gifts before. This time, I ordered this the GrabberBot Kit since it's the cheapest of the Jimu Robot line. Regardless, these kids love it too. They built GrabberBot together as a family and my brother loves playing with it just as much as his kids do. Great product.
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Great project for techie kids
by Lisa Y (5 out of 5 stars)
October 27, 2018

I bought this as a project for my 10 year old niece and she couldn't wait to get started. The step by step, 3D, 360 degree instructional app was very impressive . All the parts snapped together perfectly. Great purchase!
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Overall worth the money, however there is little to no instructions on how to program the robot or u
by tom (3 out of 5 stars)
January 15, 2018

I purchased this for Christmas for my 15 year old son. He is interested in engineering and has really enjoyed assembling larger Lego builds in the past. I was very impressed with the quality of the packaging and the "out of the box" experience was impressive. It took both of us about 2-3 hours to assemble the "Humanoid" robot and get it to make its first move. Ubtech obviously spent a lot of time on the 3D step by step assembly instructions. They were flawless and we had no issues understanding the build. After we finished, the app has several pre-programmed moves that make the robot "Dance", or move side to side, etc. But that is where my initial enthusiasm wore off. There is no substantive instructions on how to program the robot to do other things or to use the "Blockly" snap together programming language. No youtube videos, nothing on the UBTECH website and no "Community" to ask questions. So I have been trying to figure this out on my own for the last several weeks but it really is like trying to learn a foreign language. Several times I have entered an incorrect code or pressed an incorrect button and the robot will flop to the tabletop or go "Limp" and drop hard onto the ground. So overall it is worth the money and I am glad I purchased it. I haven't given up on learning to program it, however, without programming instructions or help, it is little more than an expensive radio controlled car.
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Such a wonderful robot
by ding kan (5 out of 5 stars)
August 21, 2019

I was a bit worried because of all the negative reviews but I still decided to try. Turns out really good. I totally understand why so many ppl in the comment section complain because it is complicated and easy to go wrong. A tiny mistake could end up a disaster. For example every joint has 4 orientations and because they can turn you wouldn't notice after doing them wrong. The robot will look exactly the same from outside but doesnt work. So follow the instruction very carefully and read every details. Then you will get a super fun robot dancing for you. They also let you record the movements so its easy to make new actions of your own. I can't wait to tear it apart and make a new animal out of it
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Don't buy this product
by Bob (1 out of 5 stars)
November 26, 2018

I have a couple of points. I even don't want to rate it. It is not even eligible for 1-star rating.
1. It will not move with battery detached.
2. It will not move as they promised. It will fall down because of weight.
3. The biggest pain point is it has 675 pieces. It takes a couple of days for children to build it. If there any problem we need to dismantle all the pieces and build again.
4. Connection to the robot is being lost frequently.
5. Children will lose interest in building robots and coding them.
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A Really Great Kit for Building Articulated Robots
by D. Sligar (4 out of 5 stars)
January 11, 2017

***** This is an edited review to update for the Customer Support Experience *****

I am not sure if it was just the holiday season backlogging UBTech's customer support, but they did contact me and provided a replacement battery. The new battery sent was received within a few days, charged quickly and worked flawlessly once I received it. Their customer support staff was also pretty quick to check to ensure I received the replacement part in a timely manner and ensure everything was working correctly. So, it appears that post-holiday UBTech Support is quick to address customer issues and provide replacements/support for defective items.

I still wish the robot came in a more user-friendly box, but I cannot complain about the instruction/programming app, as it allows the user to see the robot/model from multiple angles while assembling. Selecting programs and running them once the robot is built is a cinch. Now that robots/models built with the JIMU Inventor kit actually works, I am quite happy with the product and will introduce it to my class to demonstrate fully articulated robotic models. Hopefully UBTech/JIMU provides some type of IDE to program creations using a programming language beyond drag and drop blocks, but we will see where things go. There is a lot of potential with this robotics kit!

NOTE: This product has great potential, but as others have reported the battery is a VERY common problem. If your battery flashes green/red while "charging, and does not eventually display a solid green light, you probably have a defective unit and should troubleshoot it through UBTech's website.

This would be an excellent robotics kit for what is in it, but there are some flaws. If the battery does not work, you're basically left with a 2/3-scale LEGO EV3 kit and 16 servos for floppy joints (no power, no rigidity), so user-replaceable parts are a must.

Other areas needing improvement:
- Everything is packaged in a nice box, yet all of the multitude of tiny pieces are in baggies within cardboard boxes. While it looks really nice, the cardboard will not fair well with repeated use and the baggies make it difficult to hunt items needed in the builds. Dumping the pieces into the small cardboard boxes is not any better, as there are holes at the top/bottom of the boxes for removing from the compartments in the "book." This kit should have come in a more durable plastic box with easily accessible compartments or at least replace the cardboard boxes with more durable plastic or vinyl boxes.
- The LEGO-like pieces are not consistent in shape/fill. The beams are not smooth all around, but have small hollow areas and many have small holes at one end (perhaps from the manufacture process).
- The manual is only available on a Tablet or phone, no physical copy is available. While I was quite upset with this at first, I found during the build process that it was nice to be able to rotate the model around to see where things line up and fit together, yet a physical build guide is essential for many reasons: 1) if support for the product ends, the app may/will eventually stop working too; i.e., no more build guides, 2) not ideal for a classroom environment as no PC component, and 3) some people like to review all steps in advance by flipping through the build guide, using an app limits this option.
- No current IDE for programming the robot from your PC, though pre-programmed routines are available through the app for each model. Not being able to write and design programs for the robot limits its overall functionality. While there may be a "rag-doll" mode to program, this leaves much to be desired in the form of learning to program robots.
- I did have issues running the app the first few times, as it would crash, but this stopped after the first three (3) times. I am running the app on a 9.7" Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 with the latest updates, so platform should not be the issue. NOTE: I have had no other issues using the Android app since the initial errors mentioned earlier. The app runs smoothly, connecting quickly to the robot and build screens. It will also remember where you left off for when you are unable to complete a build in a single setting (good luck with that!).
*** After finally receiving customer support and a replacement part, I would recommend this robot for anyone wanting to build some great robotic models. The potential use cases is limited to walking robots, but is pretty interesting using the 16 servos for a wide range of movements. There are no wheels or sensors included in the robot, so it does fall if it moves too quickly and there is no way for it to detect anything outside of what it running inside the controller. Maybe an expansion kit will come out that adds sensors or wheels... :)
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Need to have someone with tech knowledge and building ability to assist
by MARYMARY (2 out of 5 stars)
January 23, 2019

Did not like that pieces were not labeled and seemed cheap. It took several hours to find all the correct pieces for the build. Seemed overpriced even on sale.

Did like that the final giraffe worked--although somewhat unstable and that the instructions and controls were on-line
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glitchy
by Cindy Whinnery (1 out of 5 stars)
July 31, 2019

We've had a lot of fun with the Jimu kits. This one is defective. triple checked all of the servos and the legs don't move in the proper directions. Total waste of money
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Stay away
by Alexandro A. (1 out of 5 stars)
March 9, 2019

Worst Christmas present ever
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2ND JIMU KIT PURCHASE
by JRIZZLE (5 out of 5 stars)
October 5, 2016

Bought the Explorer Kit first and this one because my son loved building with that kit and he wanted more servos and pcs to build different characters. The price is kinda high on this kit but well worth it considering it comes with 16 servos. Long story short this Jimu system was perfect for my son and he's learning programming while building these things.
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Dead on arrival
by mohammed abunijem (1 out of 5 stars)
December 5, 2018

Dead on arrival and no support on the product

wast of money
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Great coding robots not only for kids!
by Amazon Customer (5 out of 5 stars)
February 2, 2017

I bought 20 Inventor kits for school and all children love them. 16 servos at this price range is amazing! The robots come with a nice box (uninstalled) so you need to use it's Jimu app to build and play with them. The app is very easy to use and super user friendly especially the 3D building instruction so you can switch different angles to assemble the robots. It comes with several official movements and you can also create your own movement. Now, the most fun part is the coding section that allows you to use logistical statement to code with blocks. We currently built the Human and Elephant, they are super flexible (can do back flip and hand stand etc.). Will build the rest of the models with children soon and then let them to try something by their own imagination.

I see a lot of reviews complain about the battery issue but none of mine has such cases (tips: charge the grey brain box before you start to build so you can play with them once you finish building). I think UBTECH has fixed this and really want to see more great products from UBTECH. It will also be great if they can provide future sensor add-on package since I saw lots of sensor function in the coding part.

Overall, I am very satisfied with this great product and highly recommend this to who wants to buy a coding/educational robot for their lovely kids.

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