I love brain teasers, mazes, puzzles and logic challenges. I also love technology and gadgets. When I was offered the opportunity to take a look at Ozobot before it hit stores I was excited. Ozobot is a fun and creative way to play with robotics in a number of fun games. I received an Ozobot Dual Pack with a black and white Ozobot for free to play with and review. Opinions of Ozobot and the Ozobot Apps are 100% my own.

The Ozobot is pretty darn amazing. It is a motorized robot that zooms around a track and also performs commands based upon symbols on the track. The Ozobot not only works on an Android (various models, not my 10.1 Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, though) or iOS tablet (It works on our iPad Air). However, if you don’t have a tablet you can create tracks and trails for Ozobot on a plain white piece of paper with four crayola markers (Black, Red, Blue and Green).

Ozobot is small and cute. The Dual set came with a number of different skins so you can customize the look of your Ozobot. You can also further customize the mood of your Ozobot by setting the LED to a specific color. You can set the mood in the Ozobot app.

The Ozobot needs to be calibrated so that it will work properly. Calibration is different for paper play and tablet play. So if you are switching between the two you will have to re-calibrate, which is a simple process. We played a lot on the tablet. We mostly played with OzoDraw and OzoPath. In OzoDraw you can draw your own trails for your Ozobot to follow and also drag and drop codes for special movements like changing directions or changing speed. There are pre-made drawings that you can use as well as the ability to free draw. You can edit the path at any point and I’d recommend a stylus to make smoother lines than you can with your finger.

In OzoPath you are presented with paths for the Ozobot to follow. there is a starting point and a finishing point. Your objective is to place directions for the Ozobot to follow so that they can successfully maneuver to the finish line. Different directions like turn left, turn right, u-turn and many others. There are other games that are being released later this year like a dance party which will take advantage of the LED lights on the Ozobot and synchronized movements to music.

I like that the Ozobot is not limited to being a toy that you can only play with on a tablet. I like the marker and paper aspect of this toy. You can create a pathway and challenge your friends to fill in the directions that Ozobot needs to take in order to complete the maze. You can give each person a piece of paper (on per ozobot) and create a pathway to use in a race. Then pit your ozobots head to head to see which one gets to the finish line first. Ozobot has varying speeds so a well placed turbo or nitro boost can certainly help. There is a whole symbolic language that you can use to write for Ozobot. When Ozobot drives over the symbol they can do all sorts of things even backwalk, spin or zig zag.

I have merely scratched the surface of what this fun robot can do. As I get more versed in the Ozobot language and use it more I’m sure I will discover more fun things to share. Did I mention that the Ozobot is rechargeable? It recharges with a micro USB in 35 minutes.

I encourage you to check out the Ozobot website. There you can see the Ozobot in action, check out the games and tons of downloadable content to use with your Ozobot. You can also pre-order it from that site. In early November you will be able to purchase Ozobot at brookstone.com, momastore.org and amazon.com and of course at www.ozobot.com.

Press Release for Ozobot with more information.

TINY OZOBOT IS FIRST AUGMENTED REALITY TOY FOR THE SMARTPHONE GENERATION

Kids Program This One-Inch Wonder Game Piece To Move Itself (!)
Bridging The Gap Between Virtual and Digital Play

Redondo Beach, CA (October 24, 14) – Observe a kid afterschool and he’ll probably be “playing” with an assortment of digital devices from tablets and smart phones to wireless controllers and Apps. Technology is their norm and augments everything they do from homework to family game night. What’s next? A board game where the pieces move themselves a la The Jetsons? Actually, yes! Introducing Ozobot, the one-inch robot that moves kids from augmented reality back to physical play.

Launched this year at both the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the American International Toy Fair, tiny Ozobot charmed the geeks and the toy masters. Dr. Toy placed Ozobot on her 10 Best Technology list for 2014. USA Today and Popular Science immediately named it to their Best TechToys of Toy Fair. The bot’s futuristic design landed the hold-in-your-palm toy inside NY’s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) Design Store.

Designed by electronics company Evollve, the robot’s capacity for fun and learning are endless. Playing with this tiny bot introduces kids to simple (or complex) coding, expands their imaginations and encourages life skills such as deductive reasoning.

Like Dorothy following the yellow brick road to Oz, kids use color — black, red, green and blue — to program Ozobot to follow a path forward, backwards, fast, slow, right, left and more. So clever is the technology that the bot can move on physical surfaces like paper and digital planes like an smart phone or tablets. As long as there is a colored line or digital flash codes of red, blue, green or black, Ozobot will move at the command of the color or pattern of colors.

Electronic industry experts gushed over its ability to “see” colored lines and know the difference between them. Wrote one blogger from the action such as slow down, speed up, turn left or stop. Now we’re getting into programming.”

And simple coding or programming is exactly what today’s STEM curriculum encourages. As everyday tools in the workplace or at home generate another layer of technology kids will need to be at ease with robotics. “This small robot offers kids and techies,” Dr. Toy writes in her review, “an expressive way to learn and play with robotics in a variety of social and interactive settings.”

Kids and grownups will find Ozobot’s free downloadable games like OzoPath and OzoLuck creative, strategic and competitive. Kids in middle school are captivated by Ozobot and high schoolers are attracted to its ability to navigate through multi-dimensional environments.

“The Ozobot swivels, pivots and oscillates along whatever playing surface it’s on, whether that’s a game board, paper, or a smartphone or tablet screen,” describes the Popular Mechanic reviewer. “It can detect automatically if the surface it’s perched atop is physical or digital and it can transition seamlessly between the one and the other without missing a beat.”

Watch the introductory video of little Ozobot’s amazing possibilities at www.Ozobot.com.

Ozobot • Ages 13+ • $49.99

Dr. Toy’s 10 Best Technology
Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Children’s Products of 2014

This tiny customizable robot comes to life when you create mazes, tracks and playgrounds on paper, game boards and digital screens. With astonishing color sensing technology, this little bot uses a micro USB based rechargeable LiPoly battery — 90 minutes of continuous operation on a single charge.

OzoLuck App • Free

available at both Apple Store and Google Play, a social game of chance in which Ozobot travels on a maze and randomly chooses lucky outcomes

OzoPath App • Free

a strategic game to try to out maneuver your opponent to get Ozobot to home base

OzoDraw App • Free

a drawing and exploration app to test Ozobot’s intelligence

Once stocked on shelves, the MSRP will be $49.99 each, or $99.99 for the competitive series (dual packs). Online shoppers can find these tiny robots in time for the holidays at Ozobot.com, brookstone.com, momastore.org and amazon.com (visit Ozobot.com for complete retail listing.)

ABOUT EVOLLVE, INC.

Evollve Inc. is a company built around the philosophy that blends physical and digital technologies to entertain, educate and socially interact while focusing on instilling valuable life skills. Through game applications and creative curriculum, our focus is to introduce interactive robots to entertain in the family room and educate in the classroom.