When it comes to leading edge gadgets and novel gizmos, the Japanese consumer robotics market has few equals. One of the leaders in providing low-cost (and uniquely-styled) personal robotics products to that market has been Tamiya, which has gradually been introducing more products from their entry-level educational robotics series into North America.
While available in the US market for some time, the Tamiya Line Tracing Snail Kit (Electrical Craft item #75020, $35-$40) is an unabashedly cute and approachable entry into basic robotic behavior. The kit ships with a plastic (HIPS) shell and skeleton, as well as an infrared LED and photo transisitor. Slow and fast are your two speed options, while two small motors and rubber tires provide power for movement. The hard plastic shell can be easily painted (as shown), allowing budding roboticists to make their own fashion statements.
Tamiya has a host of other robotics kits available — to check out these offerings (and for more on the line tracing snail kit) head to http://www.tamiya.com.
Wonder if they did a Lego Mindstorms RCX prototype of the robot?
That’s hard to get in europe I belive
It seems to be a nice product.