Fischertechnik add 'Smart Home' and 'IoT' to their line up of educational kits

I think I need more toys.  These kits look pretty cool.

They look awesome.

I wonder how hard/easy it is for creating some other controller (maybe RPI based?), to allow more people to be able to afford these really nice kits.

The Fischer controller looks really great though.

Pretty easy I suspect unless you want to use their RoboPro software environment.

There's a book about to be published using Fischertechnik with Arduino.

https://www.dpunkt.de/buecher/12514/9783864904264-bauen%2C-erleben%2C-begreifen%3Afischertechnik%C2%AE-roboter-mit-ardui…

The Fischertechnik kits have also been used with the likes of the Siemens Simatic S7-1200 PLC controllers for industrial control simulations. They do a 24v range with this in mind. 

https://www.siemens.com/global/en/home/products/automation/systems/industrial/plc/s7-1200.html

You can sometimes find that you can get the 'Robotics TXT Discovery Set' for around the same price as the standalone 'Robotics TXT' microcontroller.

https://www.fischertechnik.de/en/products/playing/robotics/524328-robotics-txt-discovery-set

This set is the only one that comes with the 'Robotics TXT' microcontroller (RoboPro software licence included as well). All you need is the power source (battery pack recommended for the mobile bots).

The other sets, although stand-alone parts wise, do not include the 'Robotics TXT' microcontroller. Although this is pretty clearly shown on the box, it is not always clear on the on-line web store photos and you will see a few people on the likes of Amazon who have obviously been caught out by this.

The older 'Robotics  TX' kits were designed for the  older 'Robotics TX' microcontroller but they can be used with the current 'Robotics TXT' controller. A wiring update guide is available if you chose to do this. So if you see any going cheap they are probably worth grabbing whilst you can.

The older 'TX Automation Robots' is probably quite a good one to convert to another platform as they can now be picked up quite cheaply as they are being 'rebadged' to the TXT version. However you will need a few of them to build up your assembly line. Each set contains enough parts top build one of four designs. You will find a few examples on YouTube where people have built huge assembly lines. There are also some educational institutions working with industry doing this to simulate and optimise real world designs using PLC controllers.

If anyone is into computer vision then the 'Robotics TXT Discovery Set' comes with a USB camera for this purpose. Perhaps one that could be enhanced with the likes of the OpenCV library or a Charmed Labs Pixy camera.

With access to 3D printing these days it however opens up a whole new world of 'play' as you can easily make custom mounting solutions that can clip onto the parts from the existing construction sets. Stuff I could only dream about when I was introduced to Fischertechnik around 40 years ago.

You can also buy assortment boxes of building blocks quite cheaply so you don't need to go down the predefined kits if you were to build something from scratch around the likes of a R-Pi but still wanted some flexibility using 'building block' type construction. 

One of the programming examples that comes with the Robo Pro software tutorial is to make two robots dance the tango with their steps synchronised via the built-in Bluetooth link. So handy to have access to a second 'Robotics TXT Discovery Set' for this if you can afford it.

It is perhaps aimed more at the school extra-curricular environment where often the STEM versions of these sets are bought in bulk packs of 10 or more and pupils can pair to do group work. Either that or perhaps if you have siblings to pair up robots with at home.

(For those with larger budgets and creativity then perhaps they could be re-programmed to do an 'Eightsome Reel' or similar sychronised over their built-in Wi-Fi.)