I have been cutting down on doing product reviews towards the last quarter of year 2016 to prepare for our coming 4th kiddo who was born in early November 2016 and I am now slowly resuming doing product reviews but prioritizing those that can fit into our family dynamics (especially books on parenting or homeschooling stuff, family products, something along those genre)
However, as busy as I am with 4 kiddos, home cooking, taking care of hubby's administration site of the business and swamped up with managing my FB page and blog, I just can't say no to reviewing products that either myself and/or my family can use, so of course I gotta give this product a try! When I first read about Robi, I was intrigued. I mean, how cool is it that you can build your very own robot? As I've got an 8-year-old boy who is VERY into robotics stuff, I just can't say no to reviewing this. So here goes, my first review...
About the company/brand:
"Robi is a fusion of sophisticated design and advanced Japanese technology that was designed to provide interactive bonding experience for the entire family. More than 130,000 Robi robots has been assembled by fans around the world, making Robi the world’s bestselling humanoid robot from Japan.
Apart from having an extensive vocabulary of more than 250 English and Mandarin phrases, Robi can also sing, dance and control your TV. Most importantly, Robi has been exclusively re-programmed to speak several phrases in Bahasa Malaysia, only available in Malaysia."
We received issues 1 to 8 for our initial review prior to the Malaysia launch on 10th March 2017. Some issues are box type while some are thinner but all of them has a magazine packed with educational articles related to electronics and robotics theme.
For this review post, I will touch more on the magazines' features as well as the assembly of Robi. So far, in the 8 issues we have, there are different robots being featured in each issue. You get to learn more on the concept and functionalities of the robots as well as what is the inspirations on its creation.
I used this opportunity sometimes to get our 8-year-old boy to read out loud the articles to me so that he can practise his reading as well as pronunciation skills or sometimes I will read it to him so he can sharpens his listening skills. It is a great bonding moment as we browse through the issues!
In each issue, you will read on the easy to follow instructions to assemble Robi. The clear step-by-step pictures makes it so much easier for even a young child to follow. There are certain parts which I will take over to assemble such as those that require delicate setup like the circuit board or Servo cables. But mostly I'd say both our boy and myself take turns assembling Robi.
Once you have completed the magazine, you will see the parts to be assembled that comes with the issue. Some of the parts may be kept for future issues and may not be assembled in the current issue, so you really need to keep it safe and not lose them.
I really appreciate that there are some parts which has extra pieces (screws for example) as some of these small items are easy to lose or misplaced. I do however get nervous especially when it comes to the part where it involves circuitry board and the delicate Servo cables. It does train you up to be extremely patient and careful in assembling this robot for sure!
What can I sum up in this first review of mine on Robi? I'd say that it is cool to be able to assemble your very own humanoid robot with ease and using a screwdriver and not any fancy-smancy high-tech gadgets.
Some might dread the wait for each issues (weekly) though I think it can train us to be patient and the wait might be necessary as some people might take their own sweet time to slowly read through the magazine part first before going ahead with the assembly part.
For parents, I think this might be a good way to bond with your child, to work together by instilling teamwork spirit and complete the assembling and enjoying the fruits of labor after that.
Robi will be sold at a wide range of Malaysian retailers via a weekly DeAgostini magazine which will feature the latest Robi parts, simple and easy to follow assembly instructions and educational articles focused on electronics and robotics. Robi is also available via online subscription at https://www.deagostini.my/RB/order_series.aspx
Btw, the launch event and roadshow will take place in One Utama Shopping Centre on March 10 - 12, 2017. The event will be attended by Robi’s creator, Professor Tomotaka Takahashi and Hajime ‘Jimmy’ Murano, the CEO & President of DeAgostini Japan.
For more information, please visit http://www.myrobi.my/ and https://www.facebook.com/robimykl/
Do note that I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the products in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.
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