In general children seem to love robots. There are many different things which can fuel their imaginations and interest in these mechanical companions although typically most are likely to draw their obsession from things such as Star Wars. Speaking for experience, my five-year-old daughter is presently obsessed with BB-8 but he’s not the only robot either. In fact children have the option to not only have their very own robot friend but also to construct him from top to bottom.
Parents may already be familiar with the Mecanno brand, the construction sets which over the years have provided children with a variety of different creations they can build themselves and if these may seem familiar to the venerable Erector Set it would be that Mecanno happens to hold the license of that product as well. Mecanno has given children plenty of different things over the years to test their skills and imagination but this holiday season they have M.A.X, a robot companion that kids can build and interact with. M.A.X may not be the first robot that Mecanno has released nor is he the first robot to every grace the toy market, but what he offers is what truly sets him apart from simply being just another toy.
Once constructed M.A.X becomes a friend unlike any other. He talks, he moves, he interacts, he plays games, and he learns. Once you have M.A.X completely built and ready to roll he will begin play with your child by asking them a series of questions to get to know them. This is more to begin getting M.A.X to understand your child’s speech and pattern as well as to test his voice recognition capabilities and it’s all done in a way where your child is interacting with M.A.X almost immediately. While he’s initially silent all that someone simply needs to say is “Hello” and M.A.X will sleepily respond, eventually asking if the child is his creation, their name, and other small details about them. Please note however that while M.A.X does ask name and other vital information, his computerized brain isn’t designed in such a way where he actually retains this so don’t expect him to greet them by name.
M.A.X will also need his mechanical parts tested, something he will also ask to have done. The parts you will find which do move include his head, one of his claws, and then his wheels as well as his IR sensor. M.A.X has the child run through a very shot battery of tests to ensure that they are all working properly although it does seem that he’s not set up to actually state if there’s truly a problem. Our completed M.A.X seemed to initially have some issues with rolling but as we tested him, he never once mentioned that it wasn’t working correctly or what we should do in order to remedy the situation.
Initially M.A.X seems rather limited in what he’s capable of doing but this is where playing with him becomes the key. One of the draws for some outside of merely building him might be that he plays games which is true, but this isn’t necessarily the case upfront. The instructions include a list of the various commands but not all of them will be functional which for some may be frustrating. Actually it can be frustrating for some adults as well. After telling M.A.X “let’s play a game” he simply sat there without responding at all. Including something in his “mecca brain” which would respond in a way such as “I don’t know any games yet” would have been beneficial but trust me, M.A.X will eventually have games.
We started by having M.A.X do things such as tell us fun facts. At times these will be simply nonsense but at times there are some which are factual. Eventually M.A.X will be able to “tell you your fortune” in a humorous fashion, he will tell you a really bad joke if asked, he can dance if you provide him with music and he can DJ. In this mode children can move is head back and forth to speed up or slow down the songs, they can use his claw to scratch, and they can move him for some additional effects. Once the games portion is unlocked M.A.X first only has “Would you rather,” a game where you are given two choices to select from such as would you rather be a great golfer but never get a hole in one or be a horrible golfer who gets a single hole in one. When M.A.X levels up in his learning, and he will proudly mention when he has, new games will become available. Currently we have three games to choose from which now includes “Two Truths and a Lie” and a quiz game.
You can also set the date and time in M.A.X.’s brain, a required feature if you’re going to set him up to set a reminder. Currently I have him programmed to remind my daughter to pick up her cloths. You can also have him go on patrol where he’ll roam around but don’t worry about him bumping into things. This is where his IR sensors come into play. M.A.X will detect objects which are in close proximity and attempt to avoid them. You can also have him make a delivery or take a message. M.A.X can also be programmed with an ILM where your child can have him do things like move his head or claw as well as move in certain directions. Once this has been programmed and saved they can call on it at any point to replay it.
There is also an app which can be downloaded. This acts as a remote control so your child can control M.A.X like they would an RC car. There is a face option as well where you can create different faces for the robot and then remove his faceplate to insert the cellphone. One thing I will mention is that if you have a case on your phone, it will need to be removed as it won’t fit properly otherwise. However I did find that while this is a nice inclusion it also would have been nice to have the plate itself wired in such a way where it could be unhooked without having to try and pull M.A.X apart.
There are a few things however that parents need to be aware of with this toy. The first and perhaps most important in my opinion is that this isn’t something that is going to provide instant gratification so if you have a youngster who wants play right out of the box, M.A.X isn’t going to be for them. It can take an estimated 2 hours to completely build M.A.X and perhaps even longer as I felt that the instructions in some spots were exactly clear. Also, having the “help” of a five-year-old didn’t necessarily make the build go any faster. M.A.X is also recommended for ages 10 and up so if you have a child who doesn’t really like to build things or perhaps isn’t good at assembling such things, this may not be the project for them. Before you even begin the build however I’d recommend finding the batteries and charger. It did seem that M.A.X came with a partial charge but after getting everything ready only to discover that he needed a charge just pushed out the initial testing and play a few hours longer. Also you are going to need to PC or some type as his mecca brain will need to be attached so you can download updates. Also by connecting the brain to the computer you can actually wipe his memory completely. I’d actually recommend this especially if “Santa” is going to put M.A.X together before Christmas and wants to test him before he goes under the tree. There does seem to possibly be a means to wipe the memory via the main control panel. My daughter was actually playing with him as I was writing this review and I discovered later that although we had managed to advance him to level four, it had somehow been reset which only leads me to suspect she had done some combination of buttons to reset him.
There are a few things I personally think would have been nice to include with M.A.X. As mentioned, while he will ask your child information about themselves, he doesn’t really store that knowledge. My daughter had a bear when she was a baby where we could program in her name, favorite color, favorite animal, and a few other things. Even if this had to be done via the mecca brain being connected to a PC I think it would be a great way to personalize it. However I’m not certain how advanced M.A.X.’s voice recognition is and if he has the capability of associating different voices with names. M.A.X also could benefit by allowing him to inform children that he can’t perform that command presently. It can be frustrating to ask M.A.X to DJ for example and he just sits there. A minor thing I would also recommend and it may not be important for every child, but although M.A.X does seem to be aimed at a young boys, girls also could be interested as my daughter is. She’s never expressed it but I’m waiting for the moment when she asks why M.A.X is a boy and not a girl.
M.A.X is a great step forward in terms of robotics that children can build themselves or perhaps it might even be a great project for them and a parent as well. My daughter wasn’t initially terribly interest in M.A.X until I showed her the commercial and some additional video reviews and these won her over. Now that M.A.X has been put together it’s fairly common that she turns him on before going to school and plays with him a bit, then does the same thing when she gets home. She may not have built him but even being below the recommended age, she still has a lot of fun with him. Parents who are perhaps looking for something which is more hands on and will teach their child some more important skills besides playing video games will find that M.A.X is perhaps the one of the best options and with all of the various functions he can perform, putting him together is only a part of what he will offer them.
Mike is the resident reviewer for Couponing to Disney and his own site Underland Online. He has a toddler daughter and is obsessed with Haunted Mansion and all things Disney. You can read Mike’s complete bio here.