Friday, October 16, 2015

VEX Robotics: Gear Racers

** A Geek Daddy was provided the featured product for free to review **

The makers of popular mechanized insect (Hexbugs) and fish (Aquabots) toys have added a new product to their lineup called VEX Robotics that through entertaining children provide them with an educational experience involving elements of engineering, science and technology.  VEX Robotics allows kids to play with gadgets they've built with their own hands that include a Catapult, Gear Powered Cars, an industrial Robotic Arm, and a Zoetrope, among other things.  If you are a parent looking to educate a child about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) principals through a fun hands on learning experience VEX Robotics are some toys you'll want to check out.



I had the opportunity to build and race with my kids the VEX Robotics Gear Racers which are a pair of cars that are powered by kinetic energy.   The construction set comes with over 180 easy connect snap pieces that allows you to build either two racing cars or to combine all of the parts to create either a rover or one big robotic dragonfly.  What is really great is there are no tools, glue, or batteries required to put the VEX Robotic Gear Racers together just follow the directions and snap all the provided pieces into place.

Once you've snapped your car together let physics do the rest of the work for you!  Pull these cars backwards and then watch them zoom forward under their own power.  When the cars are pulled back the resistance lever holding a pair of rubber bands raises generating tension that transfers through the gears inside to cause them to launch forward.  Re-positioning the gears inside the cars allows the cars to travel at various speeds and distances helping kids to learn about the fundamental principals behind speed and torque.  It is a really nice feature with the construction kit that it provides enough parts to build two cars that can be raced against one another.  My daughter picked red and my son chose blue and it was off to the races!


These Gear Racers are recommended for Ages 8+.  Based upon our experience these construction kits probably need to be built by parents for children at the younger end of this age recommendation, with some parental assistance for 10-12 year olds, and teens can probably handle it on their own.  There are lots of small pieces included washers and gears that need to be in just the right place for the cars to operate properly and some puzzle solving thinking is required to ensure everything is snapped together just right.   Here are the building instructions to give you a feel for the difficulty level of putting the VEX Robotic Gear Racers together.  Honestly, if I was able to assemble these cars you and your kids can do it too!  While I did the building of our Gear Racers, my six year old twins handed me pieces and held parts in place for me as we discussed what the gears and rubber bands were for and how they made the toys work so it really was a teachable moment that we had fun with together as a family.  My wife got in on the action and started to build the blue car while I was in the midst of building the red one.  Egos were on the line in regard to whose Gear Racer would work and do the best when our kids took them to the sidewalk to race.


The suggested retail price for VEX Robotic Gear Racers is $24.99.  Also it is nice to know that all the construction pieces for the Gear Racers are compatible with educational VEX IQ pieces in creating your own custom VEX robot with unlimited possibilities.  Innovation First International has created its Hexbug, Aquabot, and VEX Robotics toys to give children a positive experience with robotics at a young age hoping that will assist in promoting an interest in STEM related career fields as they grow older.  The VEX Robotic toys are a spin-off of products used by teachers and students in Innovation First International's VEX Robotics competition.

The VEX Robotics competition expands learning beyond text books and lectures by allowing students to engage in competitions that encourages teams to work together to develop new skills and solve problems utilizing robotic equipment in after school competitions.  Over 100,000 student teams representing over 30 countries compete annually in local, regional, state, and national VEX Robotics competitions. The VEX Robotics toy line is meant to take some of the teachable lessons learned through these competitions at schools and bring them home for parents to utilize with their kids in a fun way.


Because VEX Robotics toys like Gear Racers are designed to inspire kids to become engaged in STEM focused learning A Geek Daddy gives them a nod of approval.  I always appreciate when educational lessons can be presented in an entertaining way so that children approach these topics as challenging puzzles rather than arduous tasks.

10 comments:

  1. my kids would LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS! especially my son!

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  2. What a great learning experience! My grandson is still too young but this would make a great gift for his older cousin at Christmas. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. This looks like fun, and what a great learning experience. Would make for a good holiday gift.

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  4. This is so cool!! I love gifts/presents that are both fun and smart

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  5. These are sweet! Totally remembering these for my nephews for Christmas!

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  6. The smiles tell it all! Look super fun :)

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  7. These are so cool! My son will be wanting to add these to his Christmas list!

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  8. That is a lot cheaper than I would expect. If my son sees this, he is totally going to want one!

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  9. These cars would be so awesome for my boys! I love that they can build their own Racers.

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  10. That looks like a great way to spend time with your kids. Good job dad!

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