Lego 2.0? You Can Build Simple Robots With Modular Toy Cubelets

With our futures no doubt being lived out under the enslavement of cunning toasters or some other form of virtual intelligence, the children of tomorrow will need to have a firm grasp of what makes our evil machine overlords tick. And to achieve that, they’ll need a basic understanding of robot logic. So when cybernetics for beginners doesn’t quite cut it, you can start them on these modular robot toys, called Cubelets, which click together like Lego and, depending on the composition, are capable of a range of simple to surprisingly complex behaviors.

The Cubelets are divided into three different types—action (outputs), sense (inputs), think (logic)—with various names like “battery,” “blocker,” “temperature,” and “distance.” By learning what each one does and clipping them together in a variety of ways, kids can build robots with different functionalities that are reactive to light, sound, and temperature, and can even drive about.

Before you get too excited though, the $160.00 price tag for a set of six might dissuade you—but you can’t put a price on the comforting knowledge that when your kids grow up, they’ll be able to build and command an army of private, swarming AI drones to defend themselves.