IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2016 - 39

young age. While there are a variety of open control platforms for higher education, and a pool of modular kits
available for K-12, not all have the necessary software
development platform or curriculum to easily enable course
development. This article reviewed the most relevant,
commercially available robotics kits, investigating their hardware and software capabilities, development opportunities,
and curriculum developer communities. The findings of this
research have been collected in Table 1, listing and addressing
the most important properties of the discussed kits. The target
age was determined by the complexity of the kits and the
required skills for designing, building, and programming the
robots. The availability indicates whether the product can be
purchased or is shipped globally or locally, and on what conditions. The modularity level of each kit was addressed on a
scale of one to five. Sensor and actuator scores were also
given on a scale of one to five, based on their variety, quantity,
and quality in a specific kit. Software development possibilities and the existence of educational materials and communities were also addressed. Finally, the price of the most relevant
families of kits was surveyed and presented. The authors of
this article hope that Table 1 will serve as a useful guideline
for future STEM educators in selecting the most suitable
robotics kit for visualization and hands-on presentation of
their curricula.
Acknowledgments
Tamás Haidegger is a Bolyai Fellow of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences. This work has been supported by
the Austrian Center for Medical Innovation and Technology, which is funded within the scope of the Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies program of the
Austrian government. This work has also been supported by the European Research Council Starting Grant
ERC-StG 679681.
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Árpád Takács, Antal Bejczy Center for Intelligent Robotics,
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Tamás Haidegger, Antal Bejczy Center for Intelligent Robotics, University Research and Innovation Center, Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary; Austrian Center for Medical
Innovation and Technology, Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
E-mail: haidegger@ieee.org.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2016
