BOLT

I love using Sphero robots in my third grade classroom. The BOLT is a great addition to our Sphero STEM collection, joining our current lineup of BB-8, BB-9E, and a SPRK+.HARDWARE REVIEWBOLT is just as durable as the SPRK+, but it has some upgrades that make it my new go-to for demonstrations. Sphero upgraded the battery life on the BOLT, minimizing worries that the battery might during a longer STEM project. I used it during my 90-minute Wednesday lab, starting with a full charge, and it was still rolling when we lined up for the buses at the end of our lab. The LED matrix is an update on the color-changing SPRK. Now the kids can program in things like text and simple images to give the BOLT some character.There are also new sensors for things like light, magnetic north, and infrared that I haven’t had time to play around with yet. I do think my kids will have fun with the light sensors; and I look forward to using them to add another layer of complexity for my students who easily master basic blocky programming.SOFTWARE REVIEWThis robot is compatible with the existing Sphero apps. You won’t have any nasty surprises if you change from an older robot to a BOLT.As an elementary teacher, the Sphero Edu app is one of my favorites to introduce coding. The kids program the robot using blocky, which is a great intro to coding and children pick it up very quickly. I teach 8 and 9 year olds, so it can be challenging to find a starting point for computer science that is on their level and engaging. The hands-on nature of these robots keeps them entertained and excited for the whole lesson. My kids love to design challenges for one another and I love watching them try to problem solve and work together.

My 14 year old got this for Christmas 2024, and has really enjoyed it! He is using it with our homeschool co-op and has advanced quickly with his peers, bc he has the chance to practice with his own bot at home 🥰 if there is another sale I would love to get one for my daughter is is interested too!

This is cool to mess around with regardless of your age. Could even be a good family time investment. Good learning experience.

I got this for Christmas for my daughter who is 12 and is just starting to show an interest in coding. I was afraid it would be too simplistic for her, or not really fun, but she really loves it! The block code it primarily uses is simple. However, she is challenging herself to come up with different programs, and that keeps her busy. She has fun programming moving images with the lights. She just made a little fox with the LED lights that winks and snowflakes that fall when the Bolt is shaken like a snow globe. She has built obstacle courses on the living room floor and programmed the Bolt to navigate them. She got the Bolt to follow a path from her room to her brother's, flash, and then display written messages using the LED display. Since the Bolt can also be programmed using JavaScript, we hope she will be able to continue to learn with this toy, even after the novelty of making the simple block programs wears off.

My 10 yo daughter is gung-ho about robots and has a couple of other kit bots. I got this thinking the display and sensors would be more novel for her, but for whatever reason this particular robot just doesn't capture her interest like the others. I think it's too "toy" like and more of a finished package where she wanted another one she could build from scratch. She's more interested in the physical building and testing than the programming I think.Initially setting it up was a pain and took about half an hour to figure out and a youtube video tutorial. The instructions just weren't clear and it was a bit counterintuitive. When it's in pair mode I think it should display a bluetooth logo on the LED screen or something, because we spent 10 minutes just trying to figure out how to get it into pairing mode to find out it probably already was. It's not like setting up headphones, that's for sure. Anyway I think she used it just once the night she got it for her birthday and hasn't brought it out again since.

My 10 year old grandson loved this sphere. Rolls easily on hardwood floors.

Awesome toy for your tech minded kids. And a creative way to use a tabket

I bought this for my class, I teach sixth grade math and robotics to sixth and seventh graders. I’m so happy with this purchase. I do recommend getting some kind of cover for it or keeping it off of hard flooring. The problem is they get scratched pretty easy and in a classroom setting the poor thing looks like it’s been abused. I did find a way around this by creating my own mazes. The kids get great joy watching and helping me create the maze and it is a huge skill to be able to program that Sphero to run the maze. I usually start my students off with using their finger to drive it, but then I move them to programming it to run the maze. It’s amazing how quickly they learn how to program. Some of my mazes are a little difficult and I know they get a little frustrated but they will work until they figure it out. I think this is probably one of the best things that I have purchased for my robotics class