Meet the MOSS Modular Robots (Video)

The MOSS modular robot system is sort of like LEGO Mindstorms, in that you assemble small blocks to make custom robots and other items. But it has some interesting tricks of its own, as product demonstrator John Moyes shows Timothy Lord at CES 2014. The MOSS kits include lots of little metal balls, so they carry a warning that says MOSS kits are suitable for ages 8 and up, while the company's older Cubelets product, which doesn't have the little balls, is supposed to be okay for ages 4 and up. There is no upper age limit specified for either product, so you're probably safe if you want to buy (and can *afford* to buy) any of these interesting toys.

Comments

Re:Useless summary

[mythosaz]

As a 9 year old reading this site, I found the 8-and-up information quite informative, you insensitive clod.

Anybody else looking a the metal balls thinking...

[denis-The-menace]

Anybody else looking a the metal balls thinking...

Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!

Re:Because there is absolutely no chance

[chispito]

of an 8 year old swallowing these magnetic balls by accident and then dying of a perforated bowel.

Couldn't be bothered to watch the first 20s of the video before posting?

"...these are just steel spheres, and their are magnets that are injection-molded into the plastics here..."

Re:Because there is absolutely no chance

[Anonymous Coward]

the balls are steel, there are magnets embedded in the cubes

Re:Anybody else looking a the metal balls thinking

[mcgrew]

The Venusians maybe? Look what nobots did to them!

Re:Because there is absolutely no chance

[Roblimo]

Thanks for noticing. Corrected.

Re: Because there is absolutely no chance

[Tenkawa]

The balls are *not* magnetic for that reason

Thanks for your inquery!

[PaulBu]

Electronics there is probably not rad-hard... Bioagents should be OK though!

Paul B.

Pick a new name, Moss is already taken...

[KPexEA]

http://fuckyeahmauricemoss.tum...

Like it

[JoeMerchant]

This actually looks powerful and flexible enough to keep me from getting bored, and easy and rugged enough to get the kids involved...

Not sure about $400 to get a capable kit, but I know we've got nearly $400 in Legos so far, and haven't even bought any smart parts yet.

Think of the children!!!!!

[jcrb]

I'm sure the government will step in and protect us from these products just as they did with Buckyballs.

Buckyballs were sold as adult office toys and the Consumer Product Safety Commission still felt the need to save the children from swallowing the ball magnets. Given that these say they are for ages 8 and up I don't think they stand a chance... which is sad because they certainly look like they could be a lot of fun.

Clearly what they need to do is include an "Emergency Extraction Super Magnet Rescue Tool" (that is too big to swallow) with each set along with a DVD copy of the movie Fortress, and print "Rescue Tool Instructional Video" on the DVD, and then they should be good to go.

Re:Think of the children!!!!!

[hawkeey]

The metal balls are not magnets as far as I understand. They are just metal balls. The magnets are in the plastic cubes. Granted small children may still manage to swallow the large plastic cubes or put them in other orifices, but I think the magnet problem has been mitigated here.

Re:Think of the children!!!!!

[jcrb]

In the words of a famous rooster...

  "That's a joke, ah say, that's a joke, son."

Wait?

[markh100]

So, now you can run SharePoint Server on your legos? Who thought this was a good idea...