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Lego Boost Review: The Best Robot Kit for Kids

Toys that teach kids to code are as hot in 2017 as Cabbage Patch Kids were in 1983, and for good reason. For today's generation of children, learning how to program is even more important than studying a second language. Though there are many robot kits on the market that are designed for this purpose, Lego Boost is the best tech-learning tool we've seen for kids. Priced at a very reasonable $159, Boost provides the pieces to build five different robots, along with an entertaining app that turns learning into a game that even preliterate children can master.

How It Works

Boost comes with a whopping 847 different Lego bricks, along with one motor (which also serves as a dial control on some projects), one light/IR sensor and the Move Hub, a large white and gray brick with two built-in motors that serves as the central processing unit for the robot. The Hub connects to your tablet via Bluetooth, to receive your programming code, and to the other two electronic components via wires.

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You can build five different robots with the kit: a humanoid robot named Vernie, Frankie the Cat, the Guitar 4000 (which plays real music), a forklift called the "M.I.R. 4" and a robotic "Auto Builder" car factory. Lego said that it expects most users to start with Vernie, who looks like a cross between film robots Johnny No. 5 and Wall-E and offers the most functionality.

To get started building and coding, kids have to download the Boost app to their iPad or Android tablets. You'll need to have the app running and connected to the Move hub every time you use the robot. All of the processing and programming takes place on your mobile device, and the sound effects (music, the robot talking) will come out of your tablet's speaker, not the robot itself.

The Boost App

Lego really understands how young children learn and has designed the perfect interface for them. The Boost app strikes a balance among simplicity, depth and fun. Boost is officially targeted at 7- to 12-year-olds, but the software is so intuitive and engaging that, within minutes of seeing the system, my 5-year-old was writing his own programs and begging me to extend his bedtime so he could discover more.

Neither the interface nor the block-based programming language contains any written words, so even children who can't read can use every feature of the app. When you launch Boost, you're first shown a cartoonish menu screen that looks like a room with all the different possible robots sitting in different spots. You just tap on the image of the robot you want to build or program, and you're given a set of activities that begin with building the most basic parts of the project and coding them.

As you navigate through the Boost program, you need to complete the simplest levels within each robot section before you can unlock the more complicated ones. Any child who has played video games is familiar with and motivated by the concept of unlocking new features by successfully completing old ones. This level-based system turns the entire learning process into a game and also keeps kids from getting frustrated by trying advanced concepts before they're ready.

Boost runs on modern iPads or Android devices that have at least a 1.4-GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth LE, and Android 5.0 or above. (I also downloaded Boost to a smartphone, but the screen was so small that it was difficult to make out some of the diagrams.)

Unfortunately, Lego doesn't plan to list the program in Amazon's app store, which means you can't easily use Boost with a Fire tablet, which is the top-selling tablet in the U.S. I was able to sideload Boost onto my son's Fire 7 Kids Edition, but most users won't have the wherewithal to do that. Lego makes its Mindstorm app available to Fire devices, so we hope the company will eventually see fit to do the same with Boost.

Unlocking New Levels and Challenges

When you load the Boost app for the first time, you need to complete a simple project that involves making a small buggy before you can build any of the five robots. This initial build is pretty fast, because it involves only basic things like putting wheels onto the car, programming it to move forward and attaching a small fan in the back.