(Bought this for a 5 year old) Absolutely OUTSTANDING product. As both a creative lead and tech developer, my personal standards for these types of devices is quite high and this little thing has not only met every expectation and promise, but exceeded them. In a world flooded with mediocre (or outright horrible) iterations of educational scientific / tech / STEM toys, it is incredibly satisfying to land on a product so well designed and constructed in every aspect of its envelope. MAJOR props to the teams behind the Dash. I cannot recommend it enough, both my 5 year old and myself find the device challenging and fun to use; a very difficult thing to accomplish.
PROS:
- Slick product design and very solid / sturdy construction.
- Powerful, smooth and responsive motors, will not get stuck on simple objects in its path and can truck over changes in terrain such (rugs clothing) with little effort. It can also avoid obstacles. Motors have a very smooth motion.
- Great battery life, and quick charging. I have not tested the full discharge, but you can easily get over an hour's worth of play-time out a partial charge (probably more).
- Nearly infinite configurability. I am simply blown away by the number of pre-defined nodes you can pull up and program into the system, as well as the simplicity of adding your own. the result is a ridiculously vast ability to configure different programs and interactions.
- FANTASTIC companion application, BRILLIANT UX/UI. I cannot overstate how incredibly well designed and implemented the robot and application are. The application It is one probably the best I have ever seen for a toy like this and easily the one thing that sets this above the rest. It is intuitive, responsive, and the education / tutoring progression section is phenomenal. My child has a blast going through the progression and enjoys the feel of the presentation. It does an excellent job of conveying basic and advanced principles and getting the user to not only execute those principles, but QA them.
SUPER PRO
- NO account sign up. NO user info. NO data tracking. In a world where every damned thing wants to siphon personal info through a sign up, subscription to a news letter, liking of a Facebook post, submission of a credit check and donation blood... for the honor of using it, this device has NONE of that nonsense. THANK YOU DASH!
SUPER DUPER PRO
- Price. I have seen a plethora of far inferior toys for double the cost (or more). This thing is a no-brainer at this price, especially when compared to the garbage out there.
CON / ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
- I had to struggle with a CON, so this really more of an improvement request. A better way to export / view the actual code which the application is running, so the user can see a comparison between the node layout and the code used to execute the commend. This is minor though, as the current structure does an EXCELLENT job of introducing programing concepts, workflows and troubleshooting.
Just get it. You will not at all be disappointed.
Dash has been a wonderful toy and I love his durable plastic. The apps were fun and educational. But he is malfunctioning after not quite a year of use. We are out of our warranty period because I got him a few months before we gave him as a gift. I'm so disappointed. He won't turn off until he dies, and he and won't hold a charge any more. While he charges he does weird, static noises and lights, but you can't play with him any more because he dies as soon as you unplug. Reading other reviews, I see that this is now a common complaint. I really hoped this toy would have lasted longer! Does anyone know of a fix for this issue? I have searched online but haven't found a solution that worked.
**Edited to add: I am changing to 5 stars because Wonder Workshop has been a dream to work with. I sent in an email and they sent me a new Dash within 2 days, even though I'm technically out of the warranty period! I am returning our malfunctioning one. I am so glad and grateful they take such good care of their customers.
Absolutely amazing toy. The shear number of movements and traits this thing can do are way more than i expected for the price. It is actually a really complex robot. The programming interface though is truly what sets it apart. This is not a basic toy. The level of complex logic and programmable sequences that you can do with this robot are really vast. It also is very well suited for kids in that they are exploring computer programming without even knowing that this is what they are doing. This was important for my daughter because she has developed this attitude to "coding" that she does not want to do it and I have had trouble overcoming this. With Dash she was fully engaged, wanting to control and create specific behaviours of the robot and this desire drove her to master the programming interface quickly and continue to add layer upon layer of complexity to her routines. After only a few days she had created some very complex routines with +50 steps including branching logic and decision making. I was super impressed and i told her "hey you realize you can program a computer?!?" and she was like "really? oh so programming is fun!" Thank you Wonder Workshop!
My 5-year old daughter and my 11-year old son both enjoy Dash (and my husband and I do, too). There are many different apps you can use to control Dash in different ways. It's a wonderful introduction to robotics/programming. Worth every penny.
Bought one for my 10 year old daughter for Christmas and my 8 year old son bought himself one several months later with his birthday money. The robots themselves are made from high quality parts and are very sturdy. The updates/setup take a while, so I'd recommend getting that all done a day or two before if you are planning to give Dash as a gift.
I chose Dash and Dot for my kids after reviewing 10-15 different kinds of robots and am very pleased with my decision. The Wonder team is doing a lot to keep the robots engaging including Scroll Quest missions, Dash and Dot Tv, and the robotics competition. My kids have had a few other robots before but Dash and Dot have definitely provided the most hours of play. I recommend getting started with Scroll Quest in the Wonder app. There is also a Blockly app which has an interface very similar to code.org which your child may have used before at school.
My kids even created a hide-and-seek game where they strap one phone to Dash's head and Facetime another phone that the seeker has. The seeker must stay in one place and drive Dash around to find the hider.
Feature Product
- ULTIMATE ROBOT BUNDLE: Our Wonder Pack comes with the Dot and Dash robots, building brick connectors, charging cords, a tow hook, a bulldozer bar, a launcher and balls, target stickers, a bunny ears and tail set, and a xylophone.
- LEARN THE BASICS OF CODING: Dot and Dash are ready to go straight out of the box and use fun challenges to teach your child the block-based coding skills they will need for middle and high school while developing critical thinking skills.
- AWARD-WINNING ROBOTS: Wonder Workshop robots are used in over 20,000 classrooms worldwide and are seen by educators as leaders in the coding robot space. The accessories in the Wonder Pack keep kids engaged and learning over time.
- 5 FREE MOBILE APPS: Download 5 free apps for iOS, Android, or Kindle Fire 8 or later. Use these to help Dash and Dot sing, dance, navigate obstacles, respond to voice commands, respond to each other, and work together to solve the app challenges.
- HUNDREDS OF HOURS OF CODING: The free in-app challenges give your child hundreds of hours of STEM learning, while the fun accessories let you easily turn your robots into everything from a bulldozer to a catapult for engaging freeform play.
Description
Wonder Workshop's Wonder Pack is the ultimate STEM learning bundle for parents and educators who want their kids to be confident digital citizens. Our two award-winning robots, Dot and Dash, help teach kids ages 6+ easy block-based coding that gives them the logic and problem-solving skills they'll need in middle school, high school, and beyond. The Wonder Pack comes with Dot and Dash, 4 building brick connectors, 2 charging cords, 1 tow hook, 1 bulldozer bar, 1 launcher and 3 launcher balls, 6 target stickers, 1 set of bunny ears and tail, and 1 xylophone. Our 5 free apps can be downloaded for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire 8 or later and have hundreds of hours of challenges to help your kids master complex strings of code. Used by over 20,000 classrooms worldwide, Wonder Workshop robots are way more than just a toy. They're an innovative and fun way to learn coding skills.
Two robots are better than one, and Dash and Dot are best friends who can be paired together to solve problems or talk to each other. Our fun accessories let you transform your robots into a bulldozer, a disc launcher, a musician, and more. Kids will grow in their confidence to enjoy hours of freeform play, letting their imaginations create more challenges for their robots. The included accessory kits can be paired together to develop complex tasks for coding challenges that get harder as your child learns. This complete learning bundle contains everything you'll ever need, including a rechargeable battery that gives 3+ hours of play time and a USB cable.
At Wonder Workshop, we believe that tech should be an open canvas for exploration and collaboration. We offer a community that's supportive and challenging with regular Wonder Workshops and Robot Competitions for kids to build their skills and creativity. Our Dot and Dash robots, along with our Wonder Pack, are used in over 20,000 classrooms worldwide, letting kids work solo or come together for fantastic group coding projects.
Love this little guy. Explored the house right out of the box. Dash needed to cross a threshold into another room during his exploration - it took him 1/2 hour to figure it out, he just wouldn't give up, then when he finally got over it, he laughed and said "wooh" and "look at that" while he continued his exploration in the next room. Absolutely fun to watch and interact with , will be more fun when programming begins. Giving to a 7 year old with autism for Christmas. Can learn at own pace and stop at any level. I Like that you have to go through each level before being able to proceed to next. The interaction is expected to help with some of the challenges encountered in autism. Very easy drag and drop interface for making chain code as small or long as desired. Easy to understand and execute codes. The sky's the limit.
This is SO FUN!!
I bought it for my 4 year old nephew who I think is super smart (but I'm not biased or anything, ha). It was a bit advanced for him to do the formula-type stuff, but I had a lot of fun! Ha! He also loved doing the one-off tricks with him, like making him move or having him dance.
Surprisingly he still really loves this robot - it could be because of the way I've framed it, but I also think that as he gets older he'll love it even more.
We picked this up for my kiddo when she got to the point of being able to read well. Before we had the basic programing mouse and she loved it. When she saw this it's all she wanted. So after she learned to read well (for a 6 year old) we picked this up as a reward. Let's start by saying, I love this thing. Seriously a really fun way to learn the concept of programing and logic. But my kid loves it too. I still help her out some with it, but overall she can do a lot with this. I do enjoy the 2 major ways to use this, a guided 'learning' path and a sandbox 'free-for-all' path. My daughter loves the guided path as it gives a small story and questline to follow. This robot can do a lot, way more then what I thought it could/would do. The possiblities are endless with this thing. We're looking at some attachments for this eventually. Overall very happy and HIGHLY recommend this to anyone with a child who's mechanically/scientificly/mathmatically inclined. Dash will provide countless hours of entertainment for them.
This is by far the best STEM toy ever. My daughter won't stop playing with it. She is 7 and gets easily frustrated when things are too hard. The easy instruction and "hints" make this challenging enough for her to continue to want to move forward, but easy enough that she can complete the tasks on her own. Having her come show me the new "programs" she makes is so exciting for both of us.
Bought 2 of these for Christmas; one for my nine-year-old son, and one for my eleven-year-old daughter. They love them, especially driving them around with their kindle and ipod, as well as coding them. Considered getting Cue for my daughter, but it did not seem as though there was much for that bot as it's newer.
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