Thames & Kosmos Hero Robot: Educational Technology Kit with Instruction Manual & Accessories

Took 4 hours for an adult to assemble. Breaks very easily. We did not see how much assembly was required in the description.

I got this for my nephew for christmas. He is in robotics class at school and he absolutely loved it. He was able to build it on his own, although it may be more difficult for someone who has less experience. It took him about 6 hours.

Do not buy this robot. The assembly required has absolutely no STEM value whatsoever, it’s really more of a tutorial on why manufacturing of toys like this has largely gone automated over the last decade. Once you spend the 3-5 hours required to assemble the robot, it doesn’t actually work. Tolerances on parts are such that the legs that are supposed to move just end up detaching instead. What seems like a cool toy just ends up in extreme frustration and disappointment.

Takes forever to put together. Not easy to pull apart. Definitely not for a 12 year old told. After all that time the gears get stuck. Checked the feet and all are correct so not sure what the problem would be. Would not recommend.

We spent hours and hours on this and even after meticulously disassembling and reassembling, it doesn’t work. The gears grind and don’t move the legs of the robot. It reacts and turns on, but we can’t get it to function as advertised. I really wish it wouldn’t have been sold on Target shelves. It was a huge disappointment and a major cause of frustration in our home for the past two days.

absolutely terrible! countless hours spent on building this with my 8yr old and it doesn't even work. took apart and spent more time on it and NOTHING!

This is the worst toy I think I have ever purchased. First, building it - it took about 3 hours for an adult to build. There is no way my 8 year old or even my 10 year old could build this toy. Thankfully, there is an instructional YouTube video which is very helpful. Second, many of the pieces do NOT stay in place. They are cheap plastic and do not stay attched as they should. Once I finally got it built, I actually had no hope that it would turn on, but to my surprise it did! However, as soon as it starts walking or dancing, at least one of the feet will detach making it immoble. We could not get it to follow any of the prompts, and after even slight movement, we heard the gears grinding. Do not buy this - save yourself the time, pain, and money, and buy your child something else. The holidays are coming, and I would hate for anyone to waste their precious time and money on this toy.

Don’t buy this unless you have an engineering degree or have taken apart and put back together a car engine.

don’t buy it unless you love building robots. it’s cool and all but we bought two, one for each of our kids 7 and 5 but building it was a pain. I broke a piece trying to get it out. Pieces keep falling off and the legs do not stay on. Wasted $100 on these robots that too us two separate days to build.

It follows you around based on sound. I'd recommend an intermediate builder for this

This robot is a great gift for older children. My four children between 8 and 15 years old had a great time putting together and setting up this robot. The directions are pretty simple to follow but it does take a bit of time and patience to setup. They have all had fun playing with it after we finished building it.

I was so excited to surprise my sons with the Hero Sound Sensing Robot. It looked like a fantastic STEM toy, promising hours of fun and learning. The recommended age range seemed appropriate, and I envisioned us all working together to build and then battle our robots. Unfortunately, our experience has been far from what I hoped for, and my initial excitement has turned into significant frustration. The problem lies in the complexity of the build. Despite the recommended ages, this robot is incredibly difficult to assemble, even for adults. The pieces are tiny and fiddly, requiring a level of dexterity and patience that my kids (and frankly, myself) just don't possess. My 8-year-old was completely overwhelmed by the instructions and the sheer number of small parts and quit before we even really began. My 12-year-old gave it a good try but also became frustrated with the intricate steps. Even my 15-year-old, who is generally quite good at these types of projects, struggled. He managed to get us to a certain point (as you can see in the photos), but even he had to stop due to other commitments. It's already taken significantly longer than the estimated build time, and we're not even close to being finished. This is definitely not a gift I would recommend giving to a child. It's simply too complicated. This feels more like something an adult hobbyist would purchase for themselves. I'm conflicted about how to rate this product. Since we haven't actually completed the robot and seen it in action, I can't speak to its functionality or battle performance. However, the frustrating and overly complex building process has completely overshadowed any potential fun. I can't give it a high score because, for us, it hasn't been an enjoyable experience. If you're considering buying this, be warned: this is a serious building project that requires a lot of patience and advanced fine motor skills. Unless you're an adult looking for a challenging build, I'd steer clear.

I received the Hero Sound Sensing Robot, hoping my kids would help put it together. My 17 year old daughter managed to get it started and worked on it for a couple hours. Unfortunately, I ended up having to complete it. As others have pointed out, the parts are jagged and have to be filed down. Just popping them out of the plastic holder can be painful and I managed to cut my hand once on the plastic. The set comes with an instruction booklet, but using the QR code and watching the video was more helpful. After many hours of frustration and finally getting the little guy put together, he can’t even walk. He plays a few notes and wiggles back and forth like he wants to move, but I think there’s something wrong with his legs. I’ll have to dismantle him a bit and see where I went wrong. It’s such a neat concept and I wished we had a better experience putting it together.

Hero is an creative sound sensing robot that I had an amazing time putting together with my 8 year old son. There are 144 pieces with very detailed directions on how to put this robot together “. Directions were east to navigate, robot is very entertaining.

This little guy is so cute! He makes me laugh when he starts dancing. He was easy to build and to work. He jabbers all kinds of stuff and is smart as a whip. His design is so cute and I love how small he is. Just right for my desk

My 10 yr old loves this little robot. It was a little too much for her to put together by herself. With the help of her dad, they put it together in a little over 2 hours. It does just what it says- it dances, responds to your voice and will follow you. It’s a great little toy.

Overall, the Thames and Kosmos Hero Robot was a fun activity for my 10 year old daughter and my husband to complete. Be prepared - it does take some time to complete. It took about 3 hours at our house. The written instructions were pretty good but there were some areas that were unclear. However, there was a link to a video that cleared up any issues. The finished product works well and does everything it says it is supposed to do. However, some of the plastic pieces don't stay in place and fall off and need put back on frequently. The fun in this was that 144 pieces came unassembled and the end result was a functioning robot. The creation was educational and fun and so cool to see at the end. They really enjoyed the process of putting it together and seeing how it works with wires and gears!

I thought this would be a fun project for my 11 year old and it was for a moment but the amount of pieces quickly became overwhelming and she did not want to finish it. I think this would be such a fun project for a child that really loves to build robots and such but a little too much for a kiddo who doesn’t do this all the time. It was overall a fun experience even though we did not finish it and learned something new.

I got this for my 8 year old son who loves building. He was so excited and started putting it together immediately. There’s a lot of little pieces which makes it a little harder to put together but he loves the challenge and really puts his mind to it. He said this is the best robot ever!

My 8 year old daughter got this as a Christmas gift and she loves it! This is the perfect gift for the stem loving child (and adult!) It also comes with a cute comic book to talk about his adventures.