NEWS – The Rockit Rocker is an attachment for your baby stroller’s handle that vibrates the handle while the stroller is stationary to mimic the same vibration that happens while pushing the stroller. Why would you want this? Apparently, babies fall asleep while you push them in a stroller and with the Rockit Rocker, you can help them fall asleep without actually taking them for a walk.
The Rockit runs on batteries, has a quiet motor, and adjustable speeds. It’s priced at $49.99 and is available from Rockit and Amazon.
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NEWS – I’m not a parent and don’t claim to know anything about raising children, but if I was a parent, I’d probably have every baby and kid gadget known to man for both safety and entertainment purposes. The toddlermonitor fits in the first category – safety. It’s a cute motion detector that hangs on a doorknob and sends a notification to your smartphone when your little rugrat escapes opens their bedroom door.
The toddlermonitor device is easy to move from room to room and you can use up to three toddlermonitors at once if you have more than one child.
I can see how some people might think that this is just a gadget for over-protective helicopter parents, but I can see how it would be useful for parents who have kids that are known to sleepwalk or have other sleep issues.
The toddlermonitor is available in 3 colors and can be purchased individually for $89.99 or in 2 and 3 packs at toddlermonitor.com and Amazon.
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REVIEW – I have always been a fan of all things robotic, and it seems that my 5-year-old son has the same addiction. Over the past 2 years, I have probably purchased over a dozen robots for him. This time around, I got the chance to test and review the Makeblock Motionblock Robot Kit which is much too advanced for my son, so now daddy gets to have some fun!!
What is it?
Featuring a modular and programmable design this Motionblock kit makes robot building easy and fun, including the capability to build and design beyond the designs included in the user guide. The parts in the kit include intelligent servos for fluid and flexible movement. You can construct a Mechanical Arm Synchronizer that allows you to have the robot mimic movements and you can use the built-in motion recording function to teach your robot predetermined actions. Makeblock also provides a free app and coding software that adds to the limitless possibilities.
What’s in the box
This kit comes with a main outer box that contains two inner boxes labeled Box 1 and Box 2. Box 1
1 x User Guide
1 x Quick Start Guide Rotating Block
3 x Suction Cup
1 x Upper Cover
1 x Lower Cover Mechanical Claw
1 x Pen Holder
1 x Upper Cover
1 x Lower Cover
1 x Left Claw
1 x Right Claw
1 x Bevel Clever Wheels
2 x Accelerator
2 x Ornament
6 x Slave Axis
6 x Master Axis
6 x Wheel Swinging Blocks Wrappers
4 x Upper Cover
4 x Lower Cover
4 x U-Shaped Ornament
4 x Silicone Sleeve
8 x Silicone Case
4 x Servo Adapter Controls
1 x Master Control
5 x Servo
1 x Battery
1 x Charging Stand
Box 2 Ornament
2 x Armor Set
2 x Fist
1 x Foot Ejection Block
1 x Balls Container
1 x Cover
5 x EVA Balls
1 x Baffle
1 x Lower Cover
1 x Upper Cover
1 x Barrel
1 x 70MM Ball
1 x Putter
1 x Lever Connectors
5 x Extension Block
10 x Small Dovetail Slot
2 x Double-sided Small Dovetail Slot
2 x LEGO Adapter
12 x Dovetail Slot Adapter
3 x 2-in-1 Adapter Synchronizer
8 x Silicone case
5 x Rotary Angle Sensor
3 x Rectangular Connector
3 x Limiter
2 x L-Shaped Connector
2 x Buckle Accessory
10 x 10cm Servo Cable Connector
10 x 20cm Servo Cable Connector
5 x 25cm Servo Cable Connector
1 x 50cm Servo Cable Connector
1 x Micro USB Cable
1 x Toolbox
Design and features
Specifications Master Control: Bluetooth module, 12 × 16 LED dot screen, servo expansion interface × 4, micro USB port × 1 Support OS: iOS, Android, Windows, and MAC Connection: Bluetooth, USB cable Power: Lithium battery Working Voltage: 5V Battery Capacity: 7.4V 1500mAh Number of Servos: 5 Materials and Parts: ABS+PC Operating Temperature: 0°C~50°C Accessories: Micro USB Cable, rubber cable, battery charger, rudder adapter plate Package Dimension: 476 × 156 × 410 mm
The Makeblock Motionblock Robot Kit comes with two main boxes that make up the entire kit, and within those two boxes, there are a large number of parts. This kit is somewhat difficult to describe in detail since you almost have to see it to get a sense of all that can be designed/constructed, from the models in the user guide and also from your imagination. Here are some of the main features:
More Fun with 10+ Forms: Build one of the ten cool preset forms, such as Fighter, Gorilla, Dog, Robotic Arm, etc., or even create whatever you can imagine exploring tons of fun.
High-Performance Intelligent Servos: The intelligent servos geared in MotionBlock makes it easily imitate behaviors of many animals and perform task high stability of control and strong capacity of bearing.
Easy to Build and Transform: With dovetail groove design, kids can easily create different robot shapes or change the angles and numbers of the modules as they imagine.
Control Mode with Synchronizer: Robot can be manually controlled to move and act as intended with Synchronizer without using any software.
Free App to Control and Code: With Makeblock App and mBlock 5, programming your MotionBlock with Scratch is as simple as stacking building bricks. For the mBlock 5 on PC-end, you also convert your Scratch code to Python with just a simple click on your Devices.
All of the parts are made to fit perfectly with each other, and with the additional coding ability, innovative designs and movements can be created.
Performance
When you first open the boxes that make up this kit the view of the parts is both impressive and intimidating. The only way to approach this is to dive right in.
The first thing that I did was to download the app. I use an iPhone, and I had to search for it via the app store because my scanner had a problem reading the QR Code provided in the manual. I do think that the issue is with the printed QR Code. Once you install the app and click on it, it shows you the various initial models that you can build, and you can just click on whichever one you decide. Here are a few screenshots from the app:
Your selection takes you through detailed steps to build your robot model. The instructions are clear and very easy to follow. There are many steps and building the robot takes some time. I think I took a bit over 2 hours to build the arm. After the final step, the app then guides you through the Bluetooth connections steps and then the operational steps. In my case of building the mechanical robot arm, there were almost 70 steps. Since it is not possible to include all of the steps in this review, I am showing a few photos below from the process:
When I used the app to control the arm, it would initially work as designed, but once the arm was bent more than approximately 15 degrees past straight vertical, it would flop to the ground, in my case the lowest position was the table surface, and I would get the following error in the app:
I also built the Mechanical Arm Synchronizer to control the arm and to see some synchronized movements.
Controlling some movements worked well, but as soon as I increased the bending angle, the arm would fall. In my personal opinion, the Servo motors need more power and more resistance once powered so that they can support the weight of the arm as the gravitational force acts on it once the angle changes.
The following is a test video of the Mechanical Arm Synchronizer controlling the robotic arm:
What I like
The build quality
The creative options for robotic models
The functionality concept
What I’d change
The strength and resistance of the servo motors
Final thoughts
I love most things robotic and while I do think that this is a great kit, my first impression is mixed. I love the concept and my first builds were mostly successful except for controlling the robotic arm once gravity steps in. I am not sure if a firmware upgrade can fix this and if so if one is available. I am also not sure if I am operating it 100% correctly, but then again, this is a test and review from a regular customer like myself. This kit has tons of possibilities and I will be exploring many more build options. I have to say that the overall quality of the parts is good. The only issue I encountered with the quality of the parts was a damaged silicone cover as shown below. The one on the right is the way it is supposed to be. Since this is only a cover, it has no operational impact. Overall, I am enjoying this kit, and looking forward to upgrades from Makeblock.
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REVIEW – E-Blox are great for anyone who loves Lego but wants to try something different, perhaps a little more advanced, with cool light-up blocks.
What is it?
Building-block toys with LEDs, some sets come with related stories, some are kits with free-play options, others involve constructing circuits.
What’s in the box?
We tested two boxes.
Our Power Blox Builds Plus set came with:
73 pieces (3 models shown)
Safety instructions for 9-volt battery handling
Our Story Blox The City set came with:
138 pieces (8 models)
“The City,” a chapter in the E-blox novelette “Earth One”
An assembly manual
Safety instructions for 9-volt battery handling
Specs
A 9-volt battery is required for the power box/battery case, which powers the LED pieces. Each box includes a safety sheet about the hazards, storage and removal of the battery in order to avoid a short circuit or leakage. In fact, there’s even an alarm incorporated into the battery box, which sounds when there’s a short.
On the opposite side of the safety sheet are instructions for getting started with E-blox. Unlike other building block toys, there are several specific rules with E-blox in order to get the light-up blocks to work properly:
The LED must be connected to the battery case terminals.
Each piece must be placed correctly, with the positive “+” side of the LED module connected to the positive side of the battery case. (Both are labeled.) Backward LEDs won’t glow.
It must also be connected to the negative battery case terminal, too.
If you want your project to include more than one light by connecting the modules in a series, the silver conductive pieces must interconnect the LEDs to each other and to the battery module terminals.
Design and features
There are four different types of E-Blox:
Circuit Blox, where you use a circuit board to build toys, with 13 different sets including a flying saucer or FM radio.
Power Blox, with 11 sets, where you build structures that incorporate glowing pieces, with multiple designs per box (ours was a kitten, tower or picture frame; another option was an airplane, space invader or ghostship).
Story Blox, three sets that incorporate a story and 8 corresponding models to build.
Single Pieces, buy exactly the blox you need, priced from 10 cents for a 1-block spacer to $10 for a battery block.
We tested a Power Blox and Story Blox set. My son, 11, was excited to make the kitten in his Power Blox set. Based on previous Lego experience, he expected he could improvise— and he constructed it just fine to the naked eye, but the cool green eyes wouldn’t glow, because we hadn’t sufficiently studied all the rules for getting the LEDs to work.
As you can see from the LED requirements in the Specs section above, there is a lot to pay attention to. For us, this meant a little learning curve before building, at least if you want the lights to work on your creation.
After 30 minutes of frustration, we looked up the instructions on YouTube, since his Power Blox set didn’t come with an assembly manual. With the instructions and a more attentive eye to positive and negative terminals, his dad helped work it out.
I should note that after my son built a handful of smaller models with the instructions (in the Story Blox set), he went back to his Power Blox and was able to build an impressive tower on his own. So these can be used for creative play and freestyling, but you need to study up and get a feel for them first.
Story Blox are a neat concept, especially if you’re trying to help a hands-on learner get in more reading and even a little research. For every page of text, there was a related build, as well as a QR code to research topics related to the story. Don’t expect a lot of reading, there are only about 8 sentences to read before each build. But it’s certainly a clever way to get kids engaged.
A few watch-outs:
These creations are very delicate. While the conductive pieces are very tight and hard to get apart because of their plating, the regular pieces are very loose. I carefully picked up the kitty after taking its picture, and it crumbled in my hands. I also accidentally broke the bridge from The City. If my child were younger or more sensitive, that could have led to tears.
The light-up pieces look like three separate pieces, but they are actually one. If you’ve spent any time playing with Legos, you’d be conditioned to see 3 one-by-twos. And like both me and my son, you’ll try to rip them apart. Don’t! You’ll break them.
The pictures on the box aren’t necessarily the models you’re going to build. Our Story Blox box showed cool light-up office buildings, which were not included. Be sure to check the back of the box to see the exact models it comes with.
You need to take apart each project to build the next, which may be hard for those who get easily attached to their work. We’ve been displaying my son’s creation-of-the-day as our dinner table centerpiece each night before he takes it apart to build something new. But five years ago, we wouldn’t have gotten past the first build, because he could never bear to destroy it.
What I like
Creative toy, with several ways to engage young learners
The different colored lights are very cool and unique
It’s educational, a great way to learn about 3D electronic circuits
Attention to safety, especially the alarm for short circuits
What I’d change
Include written assembly manual for all sets
Tighter fitting “regular” pieces for more stability
Add a tool for unlocking the tight-fitting conductive pieces
Final thoughts
A fun, unique toy with a bit of a learning curve at first, but lots of cool designs and creative possibilities once you understand how they work.
Price: Power Blox sets from $21.99 to $175.99. Circuit Blox sets from $10.99 to $82.49. Story Blox sets are $54.99. We tested Story Blox The City, $54.99, and the Power Blox Builds Plus set, $43.99. Where to buy: E-Blox and Amazon Source: The sample of this product was provided by E-Blox.
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NEWS – Strap this Qualcomm Snapdragon 2100 powered smartwatch on your kid (ages 5 and up), and they will have a full smartwatch on their wrist with a nice set of features. The main features of the dokiPal include video calling using the built-in camera, fitness tracking, an integrated AI voice assistant, and SOS location tracking for the parent that uses GPS, LBS, and WiFi to triangulate the location. Oh, it tells time too.
The dokiPal smartwatch is available in blue or pink and is designed to last for about 48hrs per charge on the built-in 800mAH rechargeable battery. It uses 4G LTE cellular service and is compatible with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon here in the US, and other networks worldwide. The watch comes with a SIM card that you can activate through Doki if you don’t want to purchase one directly through your carrier. Doki’s monthly service in the US is only $9.99 per month for unlimited data.
The dokiPal 4G LTE smartwatch for kids is available today (7/10/19) for $179 from www.doki.com
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REVIEW – I have always been a fan of all things robotic, and it seems that my 5-year-old son has the same addiction. Over the past 2 years, I have probably purchased over a dozen robots for him. This time around, I got the chance to test and review the 
Since this is only a cover, it has no operational impact. Overall, I am enjoying this kit, and looking forward to upgrades from Makeblock.
