XtremBots Smart Bot Review

Reviewed by Debbie Talbot

My 7-year-old twins love any toys which move. One of them in particular loves to figure out how things work, he loves STEM science toys for example. I was so excited about receiving the XtremBots Smart Bot to review as I knew it would be a big hit in our house. When I say a big hit, I don’t just mean with my twins, I mean with my teenage daughter and myself too, a 40 something big kid.

The Smart Bot is a very funky looking robot. It’s mainly white but has shiny grey and silver trim and measures approx. 26.5cm in height. In the box there is also a smart looking remote control which is mainly white with black buttons and grey and silver trim. The robot is wearing a helmet and has hands and legs. I think that this design is perfect to appeal to children. The age range suitability of this product is 5+, so my twins being 7 fall perfectly within that age range.

I could not wait to try out the Smart Bot. Whilst it was fastened into place, the robot can be quickly and easily removed. There is nothing worse than having frustrated children wanting to try out a new toy and it taking what seems like forever to remove from the packaging. I seem to be forever buying batteries so there was a big smile on my face when I realised that this funky looking robot charges via USB lead and no batteries are therefore required.

The box contained the Smart Bot, remote control, USB lead and informative but clear instruction manual.

The Smart Bot needs to be unpacked and then put it on charge using the USB lead until fully charged and ready for first use. Whilst the robot itself does not need batteries, the remote control requires 2x AA batteries. This was not a problem as I, like a lot of parents, keep batteries around in case they are needed for toys or TV remote controls.

Now to mention the amazing features of this robot:

• You can program in 50 actions at once. This enables children to develop their coding skills and program in complicated sequences as they get more confident.
• The robot does a robotic dance. One of my twins in particular is dance/cheerleading mad so I was so excited about this feature.
• The robot has LED eyes.
• The robot has facial expressions.
• It reacts to hand gestures you make.
• It has two displacement modes – walking and sliding.

I won’t go through all of the different buttons on the remote control. Instead I will tell you that they are clearly laid out on the back of the box the Smart Bot comes in. There is even a button you can press to see the robot do a demo. 

You program in commands by pressing the program button on the remote. You then program in the commands as step 1, 2 etc. I suggest keeping the commands simple until you got more used to using the toy. Don’t worry if you make some errors, but isn’t that half the fun, adapting and learning from your mistakes. The Smart Bot then walks in certain directions to follow commands programmed in. I love the fact that you can make Smart Bot go faster or slower. The robot even talks in robot language and has various sounds. Those parents who are not big fans of noisy toys will be pleased to hear that you can adjust the volume of this toy. My favourite button is the gesture control button.

This is such a fun toy and is ideal to encourage logical thinking, basic coding skills and is a fun way to encourage learning about science at home. This toy is great and is a fantastic activity for the whole family.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £29.99

Available to buy from Amazon here.