Cue CleverBot Review: A Cute Code Teacher for Kids

Our Verdict

Cue's CleverBot offers a very realistic and entertaining programming experience that teaches kids how to lawmaking.

For

Advanced coding capabilities
Precise movements
Lots of sensors, lights, and sounds

Against

Setup was a little rough
The personalities can be annoying
Non cheap

Tom's Guide Verdict

Cue's CleverBot offers a very realistic and entertaining programming feel that teaches kids how to lawmaking.

Pros

+
Avant-garde coding capabilities
+
Precise movements
+
Lots of sensors, lights, and sounds

Cons

-
Setup was a little crude
-
The personalities tin can be annoying
-
Non cheap

Wonder Workshop, maker of the Dash & Dot robots for younger kids, has just introduced the Cue CleverBot, an interactive robot that can chat, teach coding, and movement around on its own or under your control. The robot is bachelor in white or black and costs $199.99. Afterward playing with it for a few days, I can't get enough. A lot of toys claim to teach coding, but this is the get-go one I've seen that has something for all levels, from beginner to advanced. Aimed at kids historic period eleven and upward, this is a toy that can grow with a child (or an adult).

Getting Started

Cue comes with everything yous need except a device to run the app. You tin come across a list of compatible devices on the visitor's website. Note that Burn down tablet compatibility is coming presently.

Credit: Wonder Workshop — (Image credit: Wonder Workshop)

I was stumped right at the beginning when I couldn't figure out how to get Cue out of the box. The front of the box folds down, simply Cue was stuck in the container in such a way that I couldn't run into a solution. I ended up tearing the box open and discovered that the robot was held in place by two connectors on the right and left sides. I pulled those away, and the Cue came free.

When you lot turn Cue on, it goes into a welcome fashion that has you do a couple of simple tasks, like give it a fist bump (to exam its proximity sensors) and call it to you lot (to examination its microphones). So, it prompts you lot to download the Cue app and then that you can get started.

Credit: Amy Oztan — (Prototype credit: Amy Oztan)

My Cue had enough power to become through the testing and pairing procedure, but soon later that, it complained nearly a low battery. Then, giving the Cue a charge in the showtime isn't a bad thought, peculiarly since it will probably need to download a software update, a process that can accept up to fifteen minutes.

The Cue app is available for Android and Apple (an app for Fire tablets will exist available in November) and communicates with the device via Bluetooth. I used Cue with an Android phone and had an event signing upwards for a Wonder Workshop business relationship on the app, which is necessary for setup. No matter what I did, the app would not let me get by the sign-up screen. And so I switched to a browser, signed up for an account on the Wonder Workshop website, and so went back to the app and signed in, no problem.

Later that, I got stuck in a continuous loop of the app finding my Cue robot, telling me that it needed to update the robot, updating, and then searching for the robot and starting over with the need for an update. Subsequently restarting both the robot and my phone multiple times, I was finally able to get Cue to update successfully and pair with the app. Subsequently that, I had no bug.

Avatars

In that location are iv avatars to choose from. The avatar yous pick determines your robot'southward personality. You can pick only one, unless you desire to pay $iv.99 to go another avatar. You can exercise a demo chat with each of the avatars before choosing 1, to go an thought of each personality and voice. During the chat, the avatars will text with you and talk.

Even before yous give Cue an avatar, it has a personality, ane with a dry out wit and bored voice. I wish I'd been able to go on that default personality as an avatar. When it was waiting for me to download the app, it got impatient, saying things like, "You know the avatars won't simply download themselves," and singing "I'm a robot hero, with stars in my eyes," to the tune of "Jukebox Hero"by Foreigner. That was a personality I could hang out with.

The four available avatars — Charge, Pep, Smirk and Zest — are all unlike, and then examination them out until you're sure you know which 1 you want. Once y'all claim an avatar, you're expert to go!

Chat

Text-based chatting is 1 of the Cue's primary functions (it doesn't do vox recognition). According to Wonder Workshop, Cue has a vocabulary of more than than 170,000 words and 30,000 conversation responses. If you click on the question mark at the meridian of the app screen, you'll see some conversation starters. If you're non sure what to say, you might try clicking on 1 of those to become Cue talking. You can communicate in emojis, also.

Cue can tell y'all jokes, talk about books and celebrities (Pep dissed John Stamos in my test conversation), and brand snarky comments. If you blazon in a curse word, Cue volition tell you the term is not role of the robot's programming, or something similar, and modify the bailiwick. The chats are saved, and you can't erase entries.

I was underwhelmed by the conversation function, merely I'm probably non the target audience for that. I could see a tween getting into it.

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Control

Control mode lets you airplane pilot Cue with an on-screen joystick. You can arrange the robot'south speed and tin record upward to 10 sound clips that it will play back on demand.

You can besides put Cue into ane of three automatic modes:

Seek allows Cue to lock onto nearby objects and follow them. Step in front end of Cue, and it volition follow you. So far, I have not been able to get the robot to lock onto my true cat, but I'm not giving upwards.
Avoid is the opposite of Seek; step in front of Cue, and it will dorsum away. You can chase the robot effectually in this mode.Avoid is the reverse of Seek; step in front of Cue, and information technology will back away. Y'all tin can chase the robot effectually in this mode.
Explore lets Cue get off on its own, commenting on things every bit information technology either avoids or runs into them.

Create

This is kind of a beginner version of the Code activity (see beneath); you lot utilize a graphical programming language to instruct Cue. There aren't as many options as with Code mode, just it's too less intimidating. Yous can brand groups of instructions involving movement, lights and sounds, editing the specifics, and then connect groups together to form a cord of instructions. You can even make conditions for when a new section of code is executed. Information technology's definitely not as complicated as the coding manner, simply it still offers tons of options and a lot of flexibility.

You can name your programs, give them different symbols for the carte and make copies. You practise not need to be connected to Cue to write programs. Once you try to run a program, you lot'll be prompted to connect to Cue.

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Code

This style is where you actually get your coin's worth with Cue. Many robot toys say that they'll teach your kids to code, but Cue takes it to the adjacent level. Rather than the proprietary programming languages we see on virtually robotics kits, Cue uses Microsoft's MakeCode language, which lets you switch between block-based coding and text-based JavaScript. And so, the skills your child learns with Cue will be transferrable both to real-world adult projects and to other kids' products, such every bit Minecraft, that use MakeCode.

The app begins by asking you to do simple tasks, similar turn Cue'south lights off. At that place isn't a lot of guidance, although you will become a hint if you effort to execute incorrect code. Through exploration and trial and error, yous tin can figure out what the dissimilar commands mean and how to alter the variables. Each lesson builds on the concluding one, and once you've completed four tasks, you volition unlock a "demo," which is much more complicated code that y'all can accept Cue run.

Y'all can use a combination of Actions, Events, Control Structures, Variables, Math Operations and Functions to program Cue. With so many different lights, sounds, buttons sensors and movements, the possibilities are endless.

For someone studying JavaScript, this would be a great way to see their coding come to life. And for someone (like me) who doesn't know any JavaScript, it's a great way to come across elementary steps translated into the language and acquire a little.

For both Create and Lawmaking modes, you can program Cue's movements down to the centimeter and its swivels and caput tilts in 360 degrees. This allows you lot to program precise tasks.

Y'all can save your codes and make copies in case you desire to work off of something you did before without changing the original. You do not have to exist continued to Cue while working on codes, only when y'all want to run a lawmaking.

The downside? Information technology's difficult to see an unabridged cake of lawmaking on a phone screen, then I had to motility the screen around a lot to see all of the parts of a cake. I accidentally moved code out of place or dumped it in the trash bin more than times than I can count. Thank goodness for the Undo push. Being able to look at code blocks in landscape mode would be bang-up.

Games

When not connected to the app, you can still play a game with Cue by pressing any of the outer buttons on the robot'south head. The game is like Simon, with the lights on Cue's head lighting upwards in a pattern that you lot have to copy.

Sounds

Cue has its ain speaker and makes its own sounds, but the app as well makes noises, playing music in some modes and sound effects in others. You can turn the volume downwardly on your phone or on Cue's divide volume control, which is accessed in the app under Robot Settings.

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Charging

You lot tin can see how much battery Cue has in the app by clicking on Cue'due south face in the height right corner of the app and so on the gear icon. Cue charges via a micro USB cord (only the cord is included, no plug); when the power switch stops glowing, Cue is charged. A charging station is coming in 2018.

Accessories

Cue as well comes with a couple of "connector blocks" that snap onto the sides of the robot. They have what expect similar Lego bricks on the height and holes for other building systems. I couldn't find any instructions for these, but I could totally come across building some sort of structure on meridian of Cue and programming it to carry things. Cue besides comes with some stickers that y'all could decorate the robot with.

Bottom Line

This toy is definitely worth the money. Since Cue CleverBot's programming capabilities are advanced, information technology will not get onetime quickly. This is an actual learning toy, one that teaches a real skill, but it does it in a fun way.

While the target age is eleven+, I could see older kids and teens getting into the programming aspects. For a child who doesn't get interested in the coding, the robot is even so fun to play with, merely the existent value is in the coding. If you lot're just looking for a toy that will vroom around, you don't need to spend $200, only if you lot want to learn, this is worth information technology.