Tobbie the Robot

Tobbie the Robot is loads of fun for model builders – I have seen a few videos and read several reviews before sinking my money into getting one. So, I know what I was getting myself into. Tobbie the Robot is a great looking robot. The big head with big bug eyes, sharp yellow and black colour theme are definitely awesome. It doesn't actually do a great deal, its arms don't move. It is not… Read more

programmable. It is not remote controlled. It is not an IoT product. It doesn't answer any questions. You can't fight with it. In fact, it either follows or avoids others. It pretty much just walks, interacting with your direction (hand) using IR sensor to obtain inputs and based on the selected program to decide if it should move towards or away from the detected object. Yes, it does produce some sounds and eyes do blink to provide some feedback, but mostly just to amp up its cuteness in my opinion.

Now its limited capabilities out of the way, lets talk about some of the good stuff about Tobbie - the reason I gave it 4 stars. It is not particularly expensive, between $45 and $70 AUD, not bad for starter, especially one who wants to build and take pride that he/she took part in creating this robot. That to me is the best thing about Tobbie the Robot.

I am really impressed with the quality of the parts. Yes, the plastic could be thicker, made of carbon fibre, have some rubber or silicon parts, etc but that would add weight and cost. Like most kids, I had built some affix models like tanks, planes, etc when I was small. That was a long time ago and fondest memory come from manufacturers such as Tamiya and Hasegawa, sorry not Bandai, Revell, and I have no experience with newer brands like Dragon. I had just purchased some work equipment and they came with little instructions, few pics and very poor English with quite a few misspellings. That said something about the product I am afraid.

So, when I took out the manual and was confronted with a 30 pages manual that I consider close to Tamiya assembly manual quality, I was really delighted. It tells you tools you need. All parts are very illustrated and accurate. With screws and shafts, it provided 1-to-1 drawings to minimise the chance of getting it wrong. It tells you common mistakes people might make and illustrates that clearly. It reminds you to remove the burrs in case they affect the motor operations. It even reminds you at several places to remove the assistance tool (A-15). I was impressed that it came with an assistance tool in the first place. Gears have different colours so you really can't get them mixed up. They are not symmetrical so to help you install them the right way. This combined with a highly detailed and well written instruction booklet made for a very satisfying assembly experience. So confident, I didn't even test it midway to make sure it is built correctly.

And when I finished building Tobbie the Robot and powered it up, Tobbie beeped at me and stamping his feets in a couple of seconds prompting me to interact with it, that was a very satisfying experience. To me, the entertainment provided by Tobbie the Robot is at least 50% - 80% in the building of it and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that!

Some have suggested that 8 years old may not be able to put the robot together unassisted. I guess it depends on whether there's any prior experience building models, following manuals and basic electronic knowledge (colour coded wires and plug direction).

Few videos claimed that it has 3 modes - follow, explore and march. March is really the same as follow and manual only mentions 2 modes. Does Tobbie walk in perfect straight line (say in explore mode)? No, but it is not a RC racing car for club racing where precision is important. It appears to be pretty limited or fussy in the follow-me mode, once hand is a bit further away, Tobbie loses track and I find it difficult to direct Tobbie exactly which way to go. This is probably due to the very limited number of (IR) sensors it has. There could have been a follow-me / explore etched on its face, lit by LED so it is easy to tell whether Tobbie is in mode 1 - follow me or mode 2 - explore mode. Given its hard plastic legs, they make fairly loud tapping noise walking around on floorboards. Easily fixed with a little tape on it.

Personally, the worst part about Tobbie the Robot is that its battery door is held in place by a screw. There is no clip or anything else holding it in place like many toys do, only needing the screw to secure it to make it child-safe. With Tobbie, without the screw, the battery door falls right off. I reckon I can count how many times I can undo and refit the screw before it doesn't hold anymore - when the threads are worn out. I have added a thin black tape around the door and this helped the door to fit snuggly in place, so well I am not putting the screw in. And the lip / antenna is perfect as the lever for opening the battery door. This is a little design flaw. After all, its other (right) "ear" is not held by screw and still holds firmly to the head.

Given Tobbie doesn't walk perfectly - it kind of does circles rather than straight lines - and will need some assistance from time to time, I find myself picking it up by the head (which is the right way) knocking its arms and pushing them down in the process. I wish they are click-joints like revoltech joints so they hold up better. Lastly, one of the motor (the walking motor) has its backside exposed on Tobbie's backpack. Yes, I am nitpicking on these two very minor points.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Tobbie the Robot. If I get bored by Tobbie's limited capabilities after a while, I would still have it sitting proudly on my shelves because it looks good and I put it together. Therefore, 4 stars from me!

In summary, assembly time: under 2 hours

Good: * Good looks * Detailed, fail proof design and assembly instructions * Good price given how well this product is put together

Bad: * Limited capabilities * No remote control * No camera * Battery door held (only) by a screw

BTW, if you don't like paper instructions, here is a nice construction video from start to finish. Just note that Tobbie the Robot doesn't respond to voice command. So telling Tobbie you want play with him doesn't do anything. :) Well done to #crazyartline for making the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUBtdgFms2o