LEGO Boost Creative Toolbox 17101 Building and Coding Kit (847 Pieces)

Product Specifications

• Build one of five multi-functional robots and control them with our easy-to-use coding blocks on your tablet!
• Includes a LEGO Move Hub with Bluetooth connectivity, interactive motor and Color & Distance Sensor
• LEGO BOOST building toys are compatible with all LEGO construction sets for creative building
• Vernie the robot is over 10” high. Frankie the cat is over 6” tall. M.T.R.4 is over 4” high, 9” long and 5” wide. Guitar4000 is over 1” high, 16” long and 5” wide. The Autobuilder is 10” high, 7” long and 6” wide

• 847 pieces – For boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 12 years old

  Product Description

Product Packaging:Frustration-Free Packaging Combine the versatile LEGO building system with advanced technology to boost your creativity with the awesome LEGO BOOST Creative Toolbox. Download the free tablet app to your device and follow the step-by-step instructions to build and code any of the 5 multifunctional models. Experience Vernie the Robot - a moving and talking robot; the M.T.R.4 (Multi-Tooled Rover 4) - a robust, versatile rover with 4 different tool attachments including a spring-loaded shooter; the Guitar4000 - a musical instrument with pitch bend and sound effects; Frankie the Cat - an interactive pet that plays, purrs and expresses its mood; or the Auto Builder - an automated production line that really builds miniature LEGO models! Bring your creations to life with the app’s intuitive, icon-based coding interface and complete an array of exciting activities designed for each model. This set also includes a playmat for use with specific activities, and a LEGO BOOST wall poster! Please go to LEGO.com/DeviceCheck for a list of all compatible devices.

Product Reviews

This is the robot you’ve been looking for

OVERALL CONCLUSION==================LEGO boost is 80% of the learning at 50% of the cost and 20% of the hassle of LEGO’s fancier Mindstorms product. LEGO Boost compares really well to all other competing robots out there, so if you want your kid to know about coding, robotics, mechanics or technology, it’s a really easy choice. The age range is spot-on: 7 to 12 years old seems just right.TOP PROS: 1) Great value for what you get; 2) Extensive models for a lot of fun; 3) Painless setup so that kids can use the app and Bluetooth connection easily.TOP CONS: 1) Needs an iPad or Android tablet, which can triple the cost; 2) Limited accessories and other sensors/motors so far; 3) App can be very confusing at times and the “unlocking” of levels is irritatingWHAT CAN LEGO BOOST DO?======================You can build 5 different, intricate projects right out of the box. LEGO included a huge assortment of great parts so that you can build a standing robot, a guitar, a “factory”, a cat, and a horizontal rover bot. Each model is part toy and part experiment because the app has included code that makes the characters lively and interactive while leaving room for customization. All the sounds and processing is done by your tablet, so that’s a smart way to save costs and make the “brain” brick really simple (which LEGO calls the “Move Hub”). The LEGO Boost app guides you through building and programming each robot in a set of challenges that are unlocked as you go. My 7-year-old and I could only figure out how to do Vernie the tall robot so far, which was sad because he wanted to start with the guitar or factory. This is minor bump in the road, though, because I envision this being a popular toy for a very long time. The fact that the Bluetooth setup was so painless (no pairing on iOS, it was like magic) makes this much easier to deal with than other robots like Cozmo.NOTE: If your app crashes, power off your iPad completely. This worked great for me. I’ve noticed that upon installation, some apps need a power cycle to work their best. I don’t know if this is a memory leak in the iPad or what. I’m running the app on a 3-year-old iPad Air 1 (not 2) and it works great. Anything newer should be fine, and LEGO has a device check section on their website.IS LEGO BOOST FUN AND EDUCATIONAL?================================For sure, this product is a ton of fun and teaches a lot about coding/logic, problem-solving, and creativity. My younger two kids, ages 4 and 7, are over-the-moon-excited about it and have been counting down the days until it arrived on August 1st. My 7-year-old already spent three hours building the first robot and he was completely enthralled. I was especially impressed by the robot’s head motion and the intricacy of the gears used in this model. The app has been fun to go through, but we’re only partially through it right now.HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO OTHER ROBOTS?==================================As you can see from my website, LearnRichly, I’m kind of a learning toy nut. I especially like logic games and programming, so robotics coding is a pretty natural fit. In our house, we have Cozmo (from Anki), Dash (Wonder Workshop), Ozobot, and 3 LEGO Mindstorms kits (the older kids do FIRST Lego League, so they’ve acquired 2 EV3 sets and 1 NXT set). (Ouch, I just realized that I’ve spent over $1000 in toy robots in the last 5 years, yikes. We don’t eat-out or see shows more than a few time per year, so that helps save cash!) UPDATE: See more below about Cozmo in the ⁸⁄₁₅ Update..Which robot do we like the best? So far, LEGO Boost and Dash are the winners, with an edge towards LEGO if you have kids 8 and up and a recommendation for Dash if you have younger kids. Cozmo is small and limited, but more emotive and fun. He’s definitely a “toy” and the others are “learning toys.” Oddly, he’s also capable of real Python programming after a complicated SDK setup, so it’s an eclectic mix. Ozobots are only really useful for the most price-constrained budget; save up and buy a Boost, instead.Why are Dash and Boost the best? Because they give you real coding experience and make it fun. Dash has several apps available and is generally more mature as of right now, but I think Boost should catch up and exceed Dash overall. They both can take LEGO parts for building, but LEGO far and away exceeds Dash in versatility. It can be a factory, guitar, cat or who-knows-what-else that’s coming in the future! I do appreciate Dash as a standalone, start-from-scratch project, but LEGO will be the better choice for most households. Dash has been alone in this space for quite a while, but probably just got dethroned.UPDATE ON AUGUST 15th, 2017==========================OK, we’ve had LEGO Boost for 2 weeks now. We’ve built the standing robot, the guitar, and the mini-factory. We couldn’t get the factory to work and must have done something wrong–we’ll come back to it. My son wants to build the rover next. We also had to buy a large organizer set to keep all the pieces–what I didn’t realize is how many unique pieces there are in this set. The Mindstorms kits have lots of pieces, but they are easier to organize since there are fewer than 100 unique ones. LEGO Boost has over 200 different types of pieces; we ended up using about 60 little divided bins in plastic craft organizers. If I had it to do over again I would buy the Akro Mills 64-drawer organizer like this one: Akro-Mils 64-drawer organizer. They charge too much for the drawer dividers, but I believe another company (stack-on?) has a 48-pack for much cheaper that supposedly works with the Akro Mills set, but I haven’t verified.Since I wrote the above about Cozmo from Anki, I realize that he now has coding in the app! It’s pretty good, too, so he’s now much more competitive with LEGO Boost. I will review all of them in a future roundup at my little hobby blog LearnRichly.com, but for now I at least have an in-depth review of LEGO Boost that gives you much more detail than I could put in this Amazon review. Using my 6-criteria scoring scale, the average I came up with was a 4.4 out of 5 stars, so I wish Amazon would allow me to award LEGO Boost a 4.5 star rating instead of my 5 star rating.READ MORE

Fun and educational, but with some kinks.

I’m giving it 3 stars (upgraded to 4) for the concept (and positive feedback from Lego). My kid (7) loves it and it is a great introduction to robotics and programming. The app is well presented given the vast set of capabilities. They did a good job forcing you to take a gradual approach to learning by “unlocking” capabilities as you learn them. That said, there are two issues that others have reported as well. The product is so new that there is no help available with a google search. The problems:1. The program freezes after the first motion instruction. This is very annoying as you have to restart the app, and it has a long start-up time. Then it works for a few runs and starts freezing again.2. The programming steps, represented as icons are not documented. Most are obvious (move forward, move back, etc). Others are completely cryptic. Usually you can figure it out just by trying it, but others still remain a mystery or their effect is unclear.Another peeve is that the sound emanates from the tablet, not the robot. They should have added a speaker. I have emailed Lego support on the two issues above. I’ll update this review with their response when I get it.EDIT: Lego customer support responded within 24 hours with a thorough email that included a PDF with a “cheat sheet” for all of the programming blocks (a.k.a. “icons”). Regarding the freezing program issue: they claim to be unaware of it. After some testing here, I’m thinking it might be radio interference with nearby routers and cellphones. I moved to a different room and the issue virtually disappeared. I communicated this to Lego. I’ll continue updating with any new information I get from them.READ MORE

Lots of fun building but…

The overall experience is a bit disappointing for this AFOL. It’s a real disconnect for me to have all of the generated sounds come from the tablet. Why wasn’t a Bluetooth speaker incorporated into the hub? It would have made for a more realistic robot experience.Unfortunately the factory model just plain doesn’t work. When you can get the finicky grasper to pick up blocks then it won’t put them down. Not much fun in that.Be aware that the app is highly unstable. It crashes regularly trying to connect to the brick or run code. And check on the LEGO website to make sure your tablet can run the app before you buy!UPDATE: for models that roll or walk, the hub chews through Amazon Basics batteries in a couple sessions. Time to get some rechargeable batteries…READ MORE

Run on Kindle Fire HD 8 Kids Edition! - How To -

How to: Run on Kindle Fire HD 8 Kids EditionI bought a brand new 7th generation - 2017 release, just to run the Lego Boost.(All-New Fire HD 8 Kids Edition Tablet, 8” HD Display, 32 GB, Kid-Proof Case)Lego Boost, How to set it up & Works great!Step 1. Register and update all Kindle Patches to latest (takes a few reboots)Step 2. Sideload Google Play Store (search how on google, no hacking required)Step 3. Download official Lego Boost App from Google PlayStep 4. (Optional) Lock down the tablet with password protection, so the kids can’t accidentally purchase from GP Store.Step 5. enable bluetooth to work with Legofinished!READ MORE

BOOST CREATIVE TOOLBOX review by Honestips

 We liked:*Many hours of fun and learning, building and playing with 5 different models.*The special bricks are very versatile for building attractive robots with…

Does not work with Kindle FIre 7” (2015)

This toy requires an app to even have building instructions. My 9 year old son was very disappointed when we gave him a Kindle Fire 7” (2015) and the Lego Boost only to find…

He and his 11 year old cousin assembled it on their own and both of them absolutely love it. I asked his mother if he still …

Bought this for my grandsons 9th birthday present. He and his 11 year old cousin assembled it on their own and both of them absolutely love it.

You’ll likely need to buy a new tablet to get the app

To echo other one star reviews…. The instructions to build are on the app only and you need a newer high end tablet to get it. So disappointed that this product is so limited.

Joy of a toy

Very enjoyable and innovative toy. My 7 yo grandson truly enjoys it, its great for his age group. I chose 4 stars because i think it could be improved upon.

Great product, but Beware-No instructions

Great product,but Beware-No instructions. It’s not compatible with any of my smart devices. Had to download instructions from the web.

Outstanding

Outstanding robot and fun for kids of all ages.

Five Stars

My 12 year old grandson LOVED this present!!So far, the robot has been shooting arrows at me!

Four Stars

Great kit, no connectivity issues, wish the arms moved, overall very intuitive for intended age group

A cool kitty

 I am impressed with this. My daughter is 5 and while the actual build and coding is a little challenging for her - she loves doing the interaction and it starting to learn how…

Get it at Amazon

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