Xiaomi is making a Lego-like coding toy robot you can control with your phone
Xiaomi is producing a plastic toy robot that you can assemble into different forms, and control with an app.
Called the Toy Block, the coding toy appears to rely on Lego-like pieces. The kit will come with various other components like wheels, gears and chains, to make your moveable robot come to life.
Xiaomi says the robot will be powered by an ARM Cortex-M3 chip, and will come with sensors such as a gyroscope and be able keep itself upright. The structure will be stable enough to hold up to 3kg while moving forward, its website claims.
The accompanying app will allow you to set a sequence of moves for the robot.
Lei Jun, Xiaomi CEO, announced the Toy Block on Friday on his Weibo account, adding that it will go on sale for 499 yuan ($73) on China's big Singles' Day online sale on Nov. 11.
Some commenters complained that the price is set too high, while others pointed out that the robot's building blocks look a lot like Lego pieces.
Compared with other modular coding toys on the market, however, Xiaomi's robot is priced pretty competitively. Fischer Price's Code-a-Pillar, for example, retails for $49.99 for a considerably simpler hardware setup. The Dash robot from Wonder Workshop starts at $149.99.
The coding toy market has been heating up as of late. In June, Google threw its hat in the ring with Project Bloks, a set of electronic blocks meant to teach kids the fundamentals of programming. It isn't available commercially yet.
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Topics Xiaomi
Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
