Review: Hexbug Ant (video)
Written on Sep 15, 2009 by Brian and filed under Reviews, Vex Robotics
We’ve reviewed all of the latest creations from Hexbug – and were excited to see a demo of their latest creation, the Ant, at Toy Fair earlier this year. Hexbug recently sent us one of these little creatures with the promise of it being 10 times faster than any of their mini-bots to date. We’ll take their word for the 10 times faster, the thing flies – it’s also 10 times more schizophrenic too.
The Hexbug Ant is similar to their other robots – a translucent plastic shell (so you can see all the inner workings) on top of a set of gears and motors. The Ant runs 6 centimeters long and 5 centimeters wide. The Ant is propelled by six rapidly spinning wheels and gets its directional instructions from the dual antennae in front and the wire sensor in the rear. When the Ant senses an object at any of these sensors it reverses directions.
The Hexbug Ant runs best on a hard floor or surface, though a desk or other un-walled area is certain to end in a crash or escape. We also found in testing that Dachshunds are particularly interested in the Ant as a potential chew toy if given enough time after the hunt to scurry away with it. While we didn’t test with other breeds or species, it’s safe to assume that the Ant will either lead to a chase or scare your pet to death.
The good news is that all kids seem to love this little robot. It’s pretty fun to use the bricks you see in the video below, or other hard objects, to create a maze or path for the Ant to travel. The Ant is easy to operate too, with a single power switch in the rear. It’s powered by two button batteries that will probably last for many hours of play time.
We give Hexbug a great deal of credit for creating something that’s a lot of fun, and by the way, inexpensive. The Ant comes in five colors and runs $9.99 at Radio Shack or Hexbug’s website. Kids loved the Ant, pets loved the Ant and as a parent, $10 for that kind of play and enjoyment is well worth it.
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