Bell Robot Mabot Preview

The Bottom Line

Bell Robot's Mabot modular construction system is an accessible way to teach robotics and programming to kids.

MSRP $139.00


  • Straightforward construction.
  • Accessible, Blockly-like programming.
  • Fun.


  • Some Bluetooth issues in testing.
  • Connectors are small and can be easily lost.

In software, the concept of modularity is a well-trodden path. Authors of libraries and reusable code are constantly in pursuit of greater layers of abstraction with which they can afford users of their code the ability to leapfrog past the often numbing process of devising systems of logic from first principles. So it's natural that physical engineering systems would follow suit.

Last year I reviewed Cubelets, a modular robotics system comprising cubes wired with various abilities, from proximity detection to physical movement. Mabot (estimated to retail starting at $139) is a similar robotics system, a Kickstarter project that has already surpassed its funding goal. The developers, Bell Robot, sent us an Advanced Starter Kit to test out. The company bills Mabot as "the world's first plug-and-play robotic toy," and that tagline was likely true when its journey began. Now it's the second such system I've looked at, and one of dozens currently on the market. But that doesn't make it any less accessible and fun for teaching robotics and programming to kids ages six and up.

Early Kit

Considering that Mabot is still an active Kickstarter project, the system is very well designed and already has a decidedly "finished" look. Some work is clearly yet to be done toward internationalizing the packaging, though this will hopefully be fixed when North American distribution is ready. As of now the kit is set to ship to Kickstarter backers in November.

All of the instructions are in Chinese, with no handy quick start leaflet or "Available on iTunes" decal broadcasting the handy app (which is also available on Android). Instead, I was simply greeted by a thin film of protective foam hiding a folded map (which turned out to be a high-contrast line that one of the projects could be trained to follow), and a thicker sheet of foam with indentations for the various robotic components.

Bell Robot Mabot

The kit I received includes four wheels, one pivoting motor (for horizontal movement), two motors powering ball-and-socket joints (for vertical motion), one color sensor, one infrared proximity sensor, one touch sensor (a button, really), several smaller inert spherical and Y-shaped modules (used for joints and structure), a Bluetooth-enabled control ball, about a dozen or so connectors, and various decorative accessories, rubber nubs, and roller feet. Unlike Cubelets' clever magnet system, Mabot uses tiny plastic connectors that will undoubtedly grace the cobwebbed shadows beneath the sofas of countless families of budding engineers over the next few years. I transferred the smaller pieces of the kit into a separate container as soon as I unpacked it.

A packet of accordion-folded booklets contain Ikea-style instructions walking you through the assembly of a handful of starter projects. These projects are also available inside the Mabot GO app, so you don't have to worry about saving and storing the booklets.

Mabot Apps

Despite no clear instructions (apart from a rather hard-to-decipher hieroglyph of the Bluetooth logo with an arrow aimed at a QR code on what looks like a computer tower), I found two Mabot apps for iOS by searching the App Store: the aforementioned Mabot GO, and Mabot IDE.

Bell Robot Mabot

Mabot GO is the introductory app, and is divided into two main sections: Construction and Control. The Construction branch walks you through several projects detailed along the lines of a Lego kit. Step one in each set of instructions is an inventory of the components required for the project, followed by additional steps explaining how to assemble it. The Control branch presents you with a familiar joystick-and-button gamepad suite of controls to turn your project from a programmed robot into an RC unit you can directly command.

The other app (Mabot IDE) is a Blockly-like coding environment that uses tiles that connect to form programming commands (which by now should be de rigueur for recreational hardware systems currently on the market).

It's relatively straightforward to step through the introductory products in the Mabot GO app, each of which come with a control program. Once the construction is complete, there's a back-and-forth between the assembled project and the app during which the app catalogs the modules used in the project's creation. If there are wheels involved, you're prompted to indicate which are the rear wheels, which are the front wheels, and what constitutes the right and left of the completed model. You're then presented with a gamepad-like controller interface that's customized to match the modules included.

Bell Robot Mabot

In the IDE app, specific Blockly control blocks are presented for each of the Mabot modules, with a handy tutorial that details the proper implementation of each. Following the completion of a program, there is the same cataloging and calibration process as in Mabot GO, after which the program begins to run in a loop.

Construction and Control

By working through the projects, I was able to identify and make use of the different functional and connective modules included in the kit. The Lego-like approach is actually a masterstroke for this type of toy. As with Legos, you quickly develop a feel for the purpose of each component by following the diagrams closely. And if you have an inventive bent like my daughter, you can easily imagine future combinations beyond the examples provided.

My kit is a pre-production model, and there were a few issues that can hopefully be ironed out before the final release of the system. Bluetooth connectivity was flaky, and I grew to expect that I'd have control over my projects for at most a few minutes before the connection would simply drop.

And the app itself is a bit over-engineered, with pointless animations unnecessarily complicating the user experience. Also, once a user-defined program is created and uploaded to the project, there's no way to halt its execution short of leaping forward and switching off the power module. Last, although it's clear that the control module has the capacity to generate sound through a piezo buzzer or similar tone generator, the app contains no blocks for sound production.

Bell Robot Mabot

Coding for Kids

As a computer programmer, and the father of a nine-year-old confirmed Roblox addict and a seven-year-old who greets me upon my return home with inventions of ever-increasing complexity, I consider it part of my paternal responsibility set to introduce them both to computer code.

To me, the principal defining characteristic of computer programming is the control it gives you over a nearly limitless universe of possibility. When I began coding, it was miracle enough to copy down a few lines from my dad's Nibble Magazine and see the phrase "Hello, world" appear on the screen.

I tried that with my kids. They stared at it for a bit, then looked at me with poorly disguised sympathy.

The paradigm of coding is already vastly different than it was when I began. Over the past few years, giant strides have been made in the world of intuitive, graphical languages like Blockly, replacing the arcana of computer lexicon with intuitive building blocks that afford children and non-techies the same degree of power over the machine that's historically been the province of lifetime coders.

If Mabot's glitches and hiccups are eradicated before production, it will be an excellent way to introduce kids to the magic of manipulating the world through code. It also serves as a nice halfway point between canned solid-state robotic toys and something more complex and nuanced like Lego Mindstorms. LittleBits is another excellent robotics kit manufacturer with a great deal of flexibility from the sheer variety of Bits available. The Star Wars-licensed LittleBits Droid Inventor's Kit doesn't have quite the variety or power of larger LittleBits kits or the Mabot Advanced Starter Kit we looked at, but it's less expensive and lets you show your kids the basics of robotics by building their own R2-D2. We'll be keeping an eye on Mabot as it nears consumer release.


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Bell Robot Mabot