I had purchased a slew of robotic kits at a garage sale from a former robotics show owner in the hope that my children might develop an interest at some point. The kits are MOVIT, arrex, and C-Control brands, and many require programming.

My newly 7 year-old son has spent the last two days working almost non-stop on these kits. I would love to help him develop his interests and skills in this area. Can anyone recommend any books or instructional materials for him? (He reads at about a high-school level, but I think introductory material, as opposed to an advanced, technical manual, presupposing a lot of basic knowledgable of robotics, would be better.

Also, can anyone recommend a quick and dirty source for helping me learn enough about robotics and programming to assist him, as needed? My knowledge of robotics and programming is minimal.

Thank you!

It won't cover everything, but digging around http://www.instructables.com/ can yield some interesting bits. For the basics of control and programming, I highly recommend http://scratch.mit.edu/ this is software that allows you to program using visual components on the computer.

There are so many aspects to it, it is hard to point to one right place depending on what the particular appeal is. Another resource, though targeted to older kids for competitions is First Robotics. http://www.usfirst.org/

There are also the LEGO leagues (including a junior one.) I believe those revolve around LEGO Mindstorms, which is itself an awesome resource because it has the free-form experimental play that most robot kits are missing.

You make also want to check if there is a hackerspace or makerspace in your area as some of them have kid-friendly days or are involved in coaching some of the robotics competitions.

I find any of these as good of resources for a gifted kid or an adult. Maybe letting him teach and co-learn with you may be the best/easiest outcome?

p.s. Never undervalue the experience of taking apart an old printer or tape player with a screwdriver (they have technical motors and similar mechanic systems to robotics.)

Sorry, this is not our area--I just wanted to say maybe your DS would enjoy Wired magazine. It's totally beyond me, but they had an issue last year on this type of thing. Also, just in case it might work for you--maybe if you can afford it you could consider a tutor, although for robotics I'm not sure where you might find someone (like a graduate student, etc.). The Davidson people suggest this for areas where the parent may not have expertise, and it was something I hadn't considered before although we haven't done it yet.

Thank you for the great suggestions! Both my children really enjoyed MIT's Scratch program, and I incorporated playing with Scratch into our homeschool plans. Wired's Geekdad does have a compilation of robotic projects for kids that use common household items, like Tinker Toys. http://www.wired.com/geekdad/tag/projects/

Instructables has a lot of great ideas, too.

Thank you!

I have to second the http://www.usfirst.org/ recommendation. At age 7, the organization uses regular Legos. At age 9, it switches to Lego NXT. Before you turn your nose up at Legos, remember that the Techics kits have lots of application for building simple machines. The sort of mechanics that your DS will learn in a FLL team will be essential for meaningful explorations of robotics as she grows older.

On that note, the "Simple Machines", "Fantastic Contraptions" and "Wheeled Wonders" books by Yoshihito Isogawa might be worth a look.