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A supply store for people who want to build robots, electronic gadgets, kinetic art or anything else that moves, beeps or flashes. | |
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Gifts for Students 11 to 14 Years Old (Middle School Grades 6 to 8) Section
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The middle school years are a period of amazing change in kids. As they mature from "kids" to to adolescents -- often going back and forth several times in the course of an hour -- they can begin to handle adult tools and projects. When choosing gifts you need to match the product to the receiver's skills. You really need to focus more on skills and maturity than manufacturer's age recommendations. Someone who had done very little building may need to start with a simple project to learn basic skills and demonstrate the maturity to handle dangerous tools. A young person who has demonstrated the ability to follow complex instructions, safely handle sharp tools and stay focused for long periods of time may be able to tackle adult projects.
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 | Electromagnetic Science Set Build a doorbell, telegraph system and even a catapult all using a true electromagnet. Kit includes: disc, latch and neodymium magnets, compass, straws, wires, sand paper, switch plates, wood screws, nails, light bulbs, battery holders, iron filings, pre-drilled word blocks, light emitting diode (LED) and experiment and project book. Manufacturer: DOWLING. Manufacturer's Part Number: 731102. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Chemistry Set C2000 You and this kit have good chemistry together CHEM C2000 is a complete introduction to the most important topics in chemistry. Discover how fascinating the world is when you know the chemistry behind how everyday things work. Understanding chemical reactions turns the ordinary occurrences around us into remarkable events. You will start with fun experiments to learn basic chemistry principles. Build a mini fire extinguisher and float a soap-powered boat. Write with invisible ink and test colored markers on the chromatography racetrack. Manufacturer: TK. Manufacturer's Part Number: 644512. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Products Requiring Programming | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 | HYDRA Game Development Kit from Parallax Develop games, graphics and media applications with the Propeller Powered HYDRA Game Console. For beginner to intermediate coders, you need only basic programming experience in any BASIC or C-like language. All of the hardware and software you need is included (as shown in pictures), along with the comprehensive book on game programming for the Propeller in Spin and assembly language - "Game Programming for the Propeller Powered HYDRA". Within the book, the HYDRA hardware is covered in detail with schematics, descriptions, and tips allowing you to take full advantage of its resources, including its expansion port and game card. Note: Printed book is black and white. Manufacturer: Parallax. Manufacturer's Part Number: 32360. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Scribbler Robot from Parallax Scribbler is a real programmable robot that is perfect for beginners age 8 and up. The robot is fully assembled including a built-in BASIC Stamp 2 microcontroller brain. It arrives pre-programmed with 8 demo programs that are selected by pressing "virtual pushbuttons" on the front of the mouse. The demo programs include searching for a light source (photovore), object detection, object avoidance and line following. The robot has a "pen port" which holds a standard marking pen, allowing Scribbler to draw as it drives. Scribbler programs can be written using either the standard Basic Stamp Editor or a new drag and drop graphical programming language created exclusively for Scribbler. The graphical environment generates PBasic code which you can study and modify when you are ready to make the transition from the visual programming enviornment to "real" text programming. Manufacturer: Parallax. Manufacturer's Part Number: 28136. Requires six AA batteries, not included. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Microcontroller Computer systems engineering kit Microcontrollers small, self-contained computers are the brains inside dozens of the devices and appliances in your home. Microwaves, washing machines, telephones, and stereos all have microcontrollers inside them. A microcontroller is a computer-on-a-microchip, and includes a processor, memory for storing data, timers, and ports for connecting to other components. As our everyday devices become increasingly smart with embedded technology, microcontrollers are becoming more and more important. This kit introduces you to microcontrollers, sensors, and programming through 100 experiments. Build devices that use sensors to monitor and record data, and use the data to control motors, buzzers, lights, and a digital display. Write programs to control the devices you build. For example, you can build a light meter using a light dependent resistor and record the light levels in a room over a 12 hour period. Or measure and record the temperature outside with a temperature sensor, then graph the results. The number of possible experiments is infinite. First, assemble a circuit and write a program, following the detailed instructions in the manual. Then, upload the program to the microcontroller using an infrared interface. The program tells the microcontroller how to perform your experiment and store the data. Finally, the data stored in the microcontroller can be downloaded to the computer using the infrared interface. The 100-page, full-color experiment manual guides your circuit assemblies and programming. Requires one 9-Volt Battery (not included) or a standard Power Adapter (not included). Adapter specifications: DC 9-Volt output, barrel connector with out diameter of 5.5 mm and inner diameter of 2.5 mm, positive pole on outside, negative pole on inside. Do not use a "switch-mode" type adapter. Manufacturer: TK. Manufacturer's Part Number: 614515. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Boe-Bot Complete Robot Kit v2 Serial & USB Compatible from Parallax This bundle consists of one Boe-Bot Complete Robot Kit v2 Serial, one Parallax USB to 232 Serial Adapter and one USB A to mini B Cable. Save up to $44.86 with this bundle! The Boe-Bot has a high-quality brushed aluminum chassis that provides a sturdy platform for the servo motors and Board of Education - Serial Interface which is included this kit. The chassis has plenty of mounting holes and slots to add your own sensors and actuators. The rear wheel is a drilled polyethylene ball held in place with a cotter pin. Wheels are machined to fit precisely on the servo spline and held in place with a small screw. This kit includes everything you need to get started in robotics including the robot base, motors and wheels, a Basic Stamp controller, a starter kit of sensors and actuators and a great book which guides you through building and using your robot. This bundle provides everything you need to program your robot using either the USB or serial interface of your computer. Requires 4 AA batteries-not included. Manufacturer: Parallax. Manufacturer's Part Number: 910-28132. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Products Requiring Hand Tools and Soldering | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Soldering is an essential skill in electronics, robotics and some household repairs. While you can achieve a certain level of success in these fields using solderless techniques your options are definitely limited. While parents need to be concerned about handing their "baby" a 700 degree soldering iron, they can't let themselves be overcome with fear. Most kids have the dexterity and maturity to begin soldering somewhere around age 11 or 12. While soldering may seem mysterious and dangerous, its really not a complex skill to learn. Most kids and adults are ready to tackle simple soldering projects after just a few minutes practicing with scrap wire. The minimal soldering toolkit consists of needle nose pliers, diagonal wire cutters, a low cost soldering iron and a tube of solder. Many of our electronic kits can be built using just those basic tools. A larger set of tools makes some tasks easier and allows construction of a wider range of projects. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | FM "Bug" Transmitter Electronic Kit This is a fun kit to practice soldering and learn a little bit about electronics. This is the most powerful 'bug' available for its size, 3V supply and number of components. It is guaranteed to transmit over 100 meters within buildings and up to 500 meters in the open. Easily tunable in the FM band. Greater range can be achieved with higher voltage and/or a better aerial. An excellent introduction to the theory of 'simple' 2 stage transmitters is available for download. Manufacturer: KITSRUS. Manufacturer's Part Number: K007. More Product Details ... This is an electronic kit which you must assemble by soldering.This kit cannot be returned once opened. Click here for our return and warranty policies ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Light Alarm Electronic Kit This is a fun kit to practice soldering and learn a little bit about electronics. It detects very small amounts of light and sounds a piezo alarm in response. Put it in your cash box or secret drawer. Uses Darlington photo transistor MAL12 and a 14011 IC. Manufacturer: KITSRUS. Manufacturer's Part Number: K008. More Product Details ... This is an electronic kit which you must assemble by soldering.This kit cannot be returned once opened. Click here for our return and warranty policies ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Stairway To Heaven Electronic Kit This is a fun kit to practice soldering and learn a little bit about electronics. This is a game of skill in which you turn on the Stairway of 6 LEDs by pressing a button in response to a flashing bi-color LED. It is a surprisingly difficult game to play. A black box included to provide a finished appearance. A 9V battery (not included) is required for operation. Manufacturer: KITSRUS. Manufacturer's Part Number: K005. More Product Details ... This is an electronic kit which you must assemble by soldering.This kit cannot be returned once opened. Click here for our return and warranty policies ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Rockit Robot - Soldering Robot Kit from OWI Robots This is Rockit Robot Kit, except that you get to solder the electronic components in addition to assembling the mechanical components. Manufacturer: OWI Robots. Manufacturer's Part Number: OWI-769K. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Solar Speeder 1.1 BEAM Solar Cell Robot Kit The BEAM SolarSpeeder 1.1 Solaroller from Solarbotics The SolarSpeeder 1.1 is a very quick Solaroller that can cover 3 meters (10 feet) in under 40 seconds in direct sunlight. These little speed-demons use our special high-efficiency 1701 Namiki pager motors, and utilize the same updated Solarengine technology found in our PhotoPopper 4.2 Photovore. Simple to construct and a blast to watch in the sunlight! Manufacturer: Solarbotics. Manufacturer's Part Number: KSS. More Product Details ... This is an electronic kit which you must assemble by soldering.This kit cannot be returned once opened. Click here for our return and warranty policies ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Solar Speeder 2.0 BEAM Solar Cell Robot Kit More Product Details ... | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Hyper Line Tracker - Soldering Robot Kit from OWI Robots This is line following toy robot provides an intermediate bulding experience including soldering of two circuit boards and attaching a moderate number of interconnecting wires. Manufacturer: OWI Robots. Manufacturer's Part Number: OWI-973K. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Photo Popper 4.2 BEAM Photovore Solar Cell Robot Kit The BEAM Photopopper 4.2 Photovore Solar Cell Robot Kit from Solarbotics Photopopper 4.2b Photovore, a light-seeking, obstacle avoiding BEAM Robot. This kit utilizes very small high-efficiency motors in combination with new circuitry to make a very active solar powered robot capable of covering a meter (3.3 feet) distance in under 2 minutes! For more than twice the power, you may want to try out the 37 x 33 mm solarcells listed below. The BEAM Photopopper Photovore is a capable little self-contained robot that is powered entirely by solar energy, has light-sensing directional optics (eyes), and a pair of obstacle avoidance sensors. It uses the latest in high-activity BEAM electronics, utilizing new-technology voltage detection devices that use very little power to monitor power levels in the capacitor. This has been such an improvement over older methods that these new prototypes popped along right by with the old style photovores, which is where the name Photopopper came from. The pair of infrared detectors on the robot give it a very directed phototropic or light-seeking behavior, making it trace outlines around shadows, and be attracted to the brightest sources of light. The Photopopper Photovore is the result of over a year's worth of work to develop a very active, light-seeking & obstacle-avoiding robot. Running entirely off of a small, single solarcell. Measuring only 2" x 3" and motivated by a pair of high-efficiency coreless motors, this BEAM robot can cover a meter (3.3 feet) in under 2 minutes in direct sunlight while avoiding physical obstacles in its path and avoiding shadow patches. All components necessary for the Photopopper are in the kit, including a high-quality printed circuit board, optics, motors, and a very complete 12 page instruction manual with over 26 illustrations and images. The BEAM Photopopper Photovore kit is designed to be a straight-forward kit to assemble and tune, but does require fundamental soldering skills and hand-tool abilities to complete successfully. (If you're brand-new to BEAM and electronics in general, we suggest you try the SolarSpeeder Kit first). Manufacturer: Solarbotics. Manufacturer's Part Number: KPP. More Product Details ... This is an electronic kit which you must assemble by soldering.This kit cannot be returned once opened. Click here for our return and warranty policies ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Photo Popper 5.0 BEAM Photovore Solar Cell Robot Kit The BEAM Photopopper 5.0 Photovore Robot from Solarbotics Manufacturer: Solarbotics. Manufacturer's Part Number: KPP. More Product Details ... This is an electronic kit which you must assemble by soldering.This kit cannot be returned once opened. Click here for our return and warranty policies ... | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Scoutwalker 3 Soldering Robot Kit from Solarbotics ScoutWalker III is more capable, less expensive, and more expandable than any other two-motor walking robot kit on the market. This kit is the ideal base for your walking robot experiments! ScoutWalker III utilizes BEAM Microcore technology in a very robust topology to give this two-motor walker unusually good agility. This kit features:
More Product Details ... This is an electronic kit which you must assemble by soldering.This kit cannot be returned once opened. Click here for our return and warranty policies ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Sumovore Mini-Sumo Soldering Robot Kit from Solarbotics This bundle consists of one Sumovore Mini-Sumo Soldering Robot Parts Sub-Assembly and two 2-5/8" Plastic Wheel w/Traction Band for GM Axle. Save up to $11.98 with this bundle! Sumovore sets the standard for mini-sumo kits with its outstanding power drive, complete sensor array, modular design and outstanding price. Sumovore's designers invested over 500 man-hours of development time and built 21 prototypes to get this kit right. It shows. It meets the size and weight for official mini-sumo competition and it is built to win! We are now shipping the upgraded Sumovore with steel base plate. Manufacturer: Solarbotics. Manufacturer's Part Number: KSV. More Product Details ... This is an electronic kit which you must assemble by soldering.This kit cannot be returned once opened. Click here for our return and warranty policies ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Sumovore Mini-Sumo Robot Kit w/Basic Stamp Bundle USB This bundle consists of one Sumovore Mini-Sumo Soldering Robot Parts Sub-Assembly, two 2-5/8" Plastic Wheel w/Traction Band for GM Axle, one Sumovore Stamp Brain, one Stamp Stack II Kit, one Parallax Software CD, one Parallax USB to 232 Serial Adapter and one USB A to mini B Cable. Save up to $17.88 with this bundle! This is a complete bundle of everything you need to build and begin programming your Sumovore using the Basic Stamp microcontroller using the USB interface on your desktop or notebook computer. You can also program the robot using your computer serial interface using a Serial Cable (not included). More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sumovore Mini-Sumo Robot Kit w/Basic Stamp Bundle Serial This bundle consists of one Sumovore Mini-Sumo Soldering Robot Parts Sub-Assembly, two 2-5/8" Plastic Wheel w/Traction Band for GM Axle, one Sumovore Stamp Brain, one Stamp Stack II Kit, one Parallax Software CD and one Serial Cable. Save up to $24.98 with this bundle! This is a complete bundle of everything you need to build and begin programming your Sumovore using the Basic Stamp microcontroller using the serial interface on your computer. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Basic Hand Tool Set This bundle consists of one Slot Head Screwdriver 1/8" x 2" (Shirt Pocket Size), one Slot Head Screwdriver 3/16" x 3", one Phillips Head Screwdriver #0 x 2" (Shirt Pocket Size), one Phillips Head Screwdriver #1 x 3", one Mini Long Nose Pliers, one Mini Diagonal Wire Cutters, one Pick-Up Tool, one Precision Modeling Knife w/ 5 Blades and one Stackable Storage Box w/ Lid. Save up to $2.91 with this bundle! This package contains the basic hand tools needed to do the mechanical assembly of models, robot kits and many other projects. These are economical, good quality tools that will provide years of service if properly cared for. We use these tools at our own development and repair workbenches. The package includes a sturdy plastic storage tub. Manufacturer: BIZNODE. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 | Basic Soldering Tool Set This bundle consists of one 25w Professional Soldering Pencil, one Soldering Iron Holder, one Lead-Free Solder 5' and one Desoldering Pump. Save up to $1.75 with this bundle! This package includes a good quality soldering iron and the basic accessories you need to begin soldering robots and other electrontic projects. Manufacturer: BIZNODE. More Product Details ... | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Gifts for Students 11 to 14 Years Old (Middle School Grades 6 to 8) Section Menu |
| Products Requiring Hand Tools |
| Products Requiring Programming |
| Products Requiring Hand Tools and Soldering |
| Products Requiring Soldering and Programming |
| Tool Sets |
The content on this page was updated on 11/05/2009