1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:06,879 Ever since I and the rest of Linus Media Group signed up for CES 2014, I've 2 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:11,599 received hundreds, perhaps thousands of spammy promotional emails. It's mostly 3 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:15,759 nonsense and garbage products, and I've been clearing it out as usual when one 4 00:00:13,599 --> 00:00:20,640 of them finally caught my eye. Meet the Embot, a $49 STEM educational robot for 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:24,800 children. I've been interested in robotics ever since I was a kid. So, 6 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:49,200 let's find out if the Embot can live up to its promise of one robot per child. 7 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:56,480 First things first, $49 is just the Kickstarter price. If you want an Embot 8 00:00:53,680 --> 00:01:01,840 today, it'll cost you $79. That doesn't include shipping. And on top of that, I 9 00:00:58,399 --> 00:01:04,239 had to pay DHL $20 in import fees from 10 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:07,920 Taiwan. And I'm not the only one. Anyway, let's take a look at what we get 11 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:11,200 in the box. There's the MCore microchip, which is the brain of the robot, 12 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:16,320 ultrasonic and light sensors, a Bluetooth module if you got the Bluetooth version, two gears that will 13 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:19,759 be used as wheels, two motors to power the wheels, a little ball wheel, a 14 00:01:18,159 --> 00:01:24,159 battery pack, a single piece aluminum chassis, an IR remote with no included 15 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:28,479 battery, a testing mat, a motor shaft repair kit, an instructional booklet, a 16 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:32,960 screwdriver, and some screws, bolts, and cables. Assembly is supposed to take 10 17 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:36,680 easy minutes, but it took me longer for a couple of reasons. Like, why are the 18 00:01:35,119 --> 00:01:40,720 instructions supposed to be read clockwise? Also, the included 19 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:44,400 screwdriver is only compatible with one type of screw. There's no easy way to 20 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,960 tighten the bolts, and the instructions fail to mention that there's a hex 21 00:01:45,759 --> 00:01:51,040 wrench on the other side of the screwdriver bit. Once the MCore 22 00:01:49,119 --> 00:01:55,200 microchip has been screwed on, detaching the velcroed on battery pack and 23 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:59,360 managing cables is quite difficult since there's not much room. Also, one of the 24 00:01:57,119 --> 00:02:03,520 wires on one of my motors was completely detached. This was an easy fix for me, 25 00:02:01,759 --> 00:02:07,520 but I did some research and it turns out the quality assurance on the motors in 26 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:11,200 particular has been a problem for Make Block before. Anyway, with the robot 27 00:02:09,599 --> 00:02:14,720 assembled, it's finally time to download and install the MBLOC software. But 28 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:19,120 first, you have to manually install Adobe Air if you don't have it already. 29 00:02:16,879 --> 00:02:22,640 Then you can install the MBLOC software. But according to the video instructions, 30 00:02:20,959 --> 00:02:26,800 before I can get to programming, there's still more I need to do. First, I need 31 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:31,599 to select the MBOT board. Then select the MBOT extension. Then you have to 32 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:33,360 select COM 28 as the serial port. I 33 00:02:31,599 --> 00:02:38,400 looked everywhere for COM28 until realizing that it's referring to a USB 34 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:42,640 port and COM 4 works just as well. And then you have to update the firmware. 35 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:47,200 And after that, you still have to download, install, and link Arduino 36 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:51,440 drivers until finally you can start uploading code to the MBOT. That's a lot 37 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:55,760 of steps to go through before you've even started programming. Sure, it all 38 00:02:53,599 --> 00:03:00,080 seems obvious once you know what to do, but the Embot is supposed to be a 39 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:04,480 starter robot for children. Kids and Linus Media Group employees need very 40 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:09,280 clear, comprehensive instructions with as few steps and as little frustration 41 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:12,720 as possible. Anyway, I finally got to programming with the MBLOCK software. 42 00:03:10,879 --> 00:03:17,519 Now, this is actually a modified version of Scratch, which was developed by MIT 43 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:20,640 to teach kids about programming. Scratch is pretty cool, and it reminds me of 44 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:24,400 when I was a kid learning programming with Game Maker 5. The Scratch 45 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:28,879 programming automatically converts itself into Arduino code which is ready 46 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:32,720 to be uploaded onto the embot. I think that's pretty cool since it makes it 47 00:03:30,319 --> 00:03:38,080 easy to see exactly what the graphical scratch programming looks like in real 48 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:42,000 textbased code. Anyway, I went through all the videos and programmed the embot 49 00:03:40,159 --> 00:03:46,400 as instructed and I tried a bunch of my own programming. Programming the embot 50 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:50,560 is mostly straightforward, but only when it works. More on that later. The video 51 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:54,319 tutorials give you a few ideas of what the embot can do, but I ran out of 52 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:58,319 tutorials quickly, and I found myself thinking, "Is that all?" The most 53 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:02,640 interesting things you can do, in no particular order, are follow a line, 54 00:04:00,239 --> 00:04:06,799 crudely, avoid obstacles, and remote control the ambot with the remote or 55 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:10,080 Bluetooth. You can also make colored LEDs flash and make noise with the 56 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:14,400 buzzer, but you don't really need a robot for that. And you can detect the 57 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:18,880 ambient brightness of the room with the included light sensor on the M core, but 58 00:04:17,199 --> 00:04:22,400 I don't really see the point. And even the associated tutorial doesn't do 59 00:04:20,799 --> 00:04:26,960 anything with it except display the value on screen. I feel like it would 60 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:31,120 have been better to use this in place of the current two bottom-mounted line 61 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:38,240 following light sensors, which can only detect black or white, meaning that it 62 00:04:33,759 --> 00:04:41,040 only has four states, zero, 1, 2, and 63 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:45,280 three. This makes smooth PID line following impossible. Also, I don't see 64 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:50,479 that there's any way to do more than one thing at a time, like flashing LEDs 65 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:54,160 while simultaneously line following. Two different things which shouldn't 66 00:04:51,919 --> 00:04:58,320 interfere, but they do. It all gets lumped together. This is because of the 67 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:02,560 decision to base the embot on Arduino, which doesn't support multi-threading. 68 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:06,479 Bummer. I mean, maybe this is all just an issue of expectation management. The 69 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:09,919 Kickstarter campaign really had me excited for the Embot, but you need 70 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:14,240 additional hardware to do some of the cool things they show off. The stock 71 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:18,400 Embot only assembles in one way, and it comes with just two motors for the two 72 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:22,639 wheels, though the RJ25 ports can support more motors. If you want extra 73 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:25,440 sensors or a robotic ARM for your Embot, you'll have to buy those. This is par 74 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:29,520 for the course when it comes to robotics, but because of the Embot's 75 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:33,680 single piece aluminum chassis, it's not nearly as modular as other robotics 76 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:38,080 kits. This may be a good or a bad thing depending upon what you want the MBOT 77 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:42,320 for. The hardware is fine. It's the MB block software that has issues. It was 78 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:46,400 frustrating to install and even more frustrating to use. Sometimes the MBOT 79 00:05:44,639 --> 00:05:50,560 wouldn't be detected and sometimes it wouldn't accept code. And here's a 80 00:05:48,479 --> 00:05:55,039 strange problem. It seems like after you upload your first Arduino code to the 81 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:58,960 MBOT, certain Scratch script modules no longer work, even though they previously 82 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:03,440 did work, as shown in the video tutorials. Also, at some point I lost 83 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:07,759 the ability to upload code from my work computer completely. I kept getting this 84 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:11,759 error. Also, I could never get the ultrasonic sensor to work. No matter 85 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:16,400 what computer I used, I kept getting the error undefined reference to count pulse 86 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:20,319 ASM. I told make block about my software problems and they quickly updated the 87 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:24,880 software. Now the ultrasonic sensor works and I can upload code from my work 88 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:28,800 computer again. That's great. But then all my LED programming became 89 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:32,720 non-functional and I had to redo it. There are still other issues with the 90 00:06:30,639 --> 00:06:37,199 software. I sincerely hope that these remaining problems can also be resolved. 91 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:41,680 If they are, the MBOT could be a worthwhile purchase. Overall, I spent 92 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:45,680 more time trying to get the MBOT to work than I did actually programming and 93 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:49,680 using it. Now, there's a graphic on the Kickstarter page favorably comparing the 94 00:06:47,759 --> 00:06:53,600 MBOT to three other competing robotic systems. At first glance, it looks like 95 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:57,919 the MBOT is clearly superior. Then, you look a little closer and realize, wait a 96 00:06:55,600 --> 00:07:01,440 minute, an RGB LED isn't a sensor. Neither is a buzzer. And these other 97 00:06:59,599 --> 00:07:05,039 robots are poorly represented. For example, the Lego Mindstorm's 98 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:08,800 educational base set has a ton of stuff not listed in this graphic. There's a 99 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:13,280 touch sensor, lots of gears, wheels, and beams, an integrated display with 100 00:07:10,639 --> 00:07:17,840 buttons, a speaker, and enclosed PCP, and three servo motors with built-in 101 00:07:15,599 --> 00:07:21,599 tachometers for a total of nearly 500 parts with nearly unlimited ways to 102 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:27,280 assemble it all. Of course, it's a more expensive $250, and this came out 8 103 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:31,440 years ago. The Parallax Arduino Shield seems like a much more fair comparison, 104 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:35,360 and it certainly looks like the Embot has much better hardware for less money, 105 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:39,199 but I can't say for sure since I've never used the Parallax Arduino Shield 106 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:44,160 robot kit. I've also never used the VEX IQ robot. But hey, VEX, Parallax, Lego 107 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:49,039 Tetricx. If you guys want to send any of your robots to us for a review, go right 108 00:07:46,319 --> 00:07:54,639 ahead. I'll review it. Get in here. So, anyway, here's the question. If the MBOT 109 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:56,160 really was $50 total, and if all the 110 00:07:54,639 --> 00:08:01,759 problems with the software were resolved, would the MBOT be a worthwhile 111 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:05,680 purchase? Sure. At that point, the only issue I can see is that any kid who's 112 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:09,599 really interested in robotics is going to quickly outgrow the Embot because of 113 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:14,240 its limited hardware and singular method of construction. That makes a product 114 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:17,599 like the Embot more appropriate for educational settings where kids can 115 00:08:15,919 --> 00:08:21,360 learn everything they can from it and then move on to bigger and better 116 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:26,560 things, allowing the next group of kids to have their turn. It's not necessary 117 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:31,360 for every single child to own an Embot since every kid is not going to care 118 00:08:28,639 --> 00:08:36,240 about robotics. So, if you or your child or your class is interested in robotics, 119 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:39,760 I cannot recommend the Embot. There are plenty of more wellestablished brands 120 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:44,000 for you to choose from like VEX Robotics, Tetris, Mindstorms, and so on. 121 00:08:42,479 --> 00:08:48,240 I recommend that you spend the extra money and get a robotics kit that will 122 00:08:45,839 --> 00:08:51,360 allow a much greater range of learning and 123 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:54,399 experimentation. And on the subject of fixing things and putting stuff 124 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:58,640 together, today's episode sponsor is iFixit. You've probably used or at least 125 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:02,480 read one of the thousands of in-depth tearowns or guides available on their 126 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:05,839 site. But what you might not know is that they also have a great line of 127 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:09,600 professional electronics tools. 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So head on over to our link, that's 137 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:51,920 ifixit.com/Linus, and save on some awesome tools today. So, what do you 138 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:55,200 guys think? Was I too hard on the embot? Do you have one? And if so, what do you 139 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:58,560 think about it? Are you guys interested in seeing more videos about robotics in 140 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:02,399 the future? And how do you feel about me, Taran, as a host? Hello, by the way, 141 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:06,560 if you haven't seen me before. Let us know in the comments. Anyway, time for 142 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:09,440 Linus' new outro. If this video sucked, you know what to do. But if it was 143 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:12,880 awesome, get subscribed, hit the like button, or even consider supporting us 144 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:17,040 directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon, buying a cool t-shirt 145 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:19,839 like this one, or with a direct monthly contribution. Now that you're done doing 146 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:23,920 all that, you're probably wondering what to watch next. So, click that little eye 147 00:10:22,079 --> 00:10:28,160 button up in the top right hand corner to check out Thug Life Daydream, which 148 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:33,760 well, you're just going to have to see it on our other channel. Channel Super 149 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:44,230 Fun. I'll see you around.