Educational Insights Artie 3000 review

REVIEW – With two young children in school, I have been getting more involved in buying STEM gadgets, devices and educational toys for them. It is great to be able to give them the ability to explore their imagination and creativity and with today’s children, computers, coding, and Artificial Intelligent/Smart devices have become the norm. I have been able to test a few STEM-related toys with them and now I get to check out the Artie 3000 by Educational Insights.

What is it?

The Artie 3000 by Educational Insights is a STEM-related Coding Robot toy for kids. It provides them with a creative way to learn to code. They get to design the code and Artie 3000 will draw the lines to make their designs a reality. It uses washable markers for drawing. It also features its own built-in Wi-Fi server, so no internet connection is required. Since it uses a browser interface for control, there is no OS limitation

What’s in the box

1 x Artie 3000 robot
4 x Washable Markers
1 x Quick Start Guide
4 x AA Batteries (Included only for this review sample)
Activity Cards

Design and features

Features

On top of Artie 3000, there is a hinged cover. When opened, it reveals the receptacle for you to insert the washable marker, the on/off switch and a red power LED indicator.


On the back of Artie 3000 below the head, there is the battery compartment that is secured by a screw. It takes 4 AA batteries.

On the bottom of Artie 3000, there is the other end of the marker tube that allows the tip pf the marker to stick out so that it can draw. A clear plastic cap is included to safeguard the tip of the marker during short periods of time when it is not being used.

Performance

This sample of the Artie 3000 arrived well packaged, and with the 4 AA batteries already installed. While there was a need to briefly review the Quick Start Guide, setting it up was easy. I inserted one of the included washable markers into the receptacle under the cover and made sure that the tip on the other end was at the correct height. I then taped a sheet of 8.5 x 11″ paper onto a solid flat surface and turned on the power and place Artie 3000 in the center of the paper.


Once you power on Artie, its direct wifi access becomes visible in your computer’s wifi list. I initially used my iPhone and was able to easily connect to Artie’s WiFi.

Once connected, I then navigated to the link provided in the browser on my iPhone and followed the instructions on the included activity cards. I chose the activity that would draw circles that all touch on one edge

The following is a video of Artie drawing the circles:

 

The result as shown below is that Artie 3000 did not draw the circles as it should. (I crumpled up the paper after the drawing. I forgot to take the picture before I did, but the paper was flat and new for the drawing)

I then decided to test again and tested with the activity that would have the Artie 3000 write the words Artie Party. The following is a short video of the writing activity.

 

Below is the result of the writing activity.

Since my initial attempts yielded less than perfect results, I decided to go to their website and look for the procedure to calibrate Artie. After following the calibration instructions, the following are the samples of my retesting:

What I like

• The size and build quality
• The concept.
• The custom programming feature

What I’d change

• Check quality control to include proper calibration prior to shipping

Final thoughts

The Artie 3000 is a nice toy and a nice creative tool that would tickle the imagination and creativity of kids interacting with it. However, as my results show, there is a bit of an accuracy issue (maybe I am doing something wrong), that affects the desired outcome. Regardless, with its coding abilities and features that would allow any interested child to explore and grow, it is well worth the relatively inexpensive cost.

Price: $52.92
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Educational Insights