GoBox (Dexter Industries)

What's in the box: Each month brings a new robot sensor or actuator plus access to a guided GoBox mission, and the first box also includes the GoPiGo Core and a Raspberry Pi.

GoBox is a monthly robotics subscription built around the GoPiGo, a small wheeled robot powered by a Raspberry Pi. The first month costs $219 and includes the GoPiGo Core, a Raspberry Pi computer and the first mission. After that it is $24 a month for a new sensor or actuator and access to another guided mission, with 12 missions in total. US subscribers get free shipping, and there is no contract, so you can stop whenever you like. If you already own a GoPiGo, you can subscribe to the parts and missions alone. The missions are step by step and story driven, and no coding experience is needed. The list of concepts is solid: loops, variables, conditionals, state machines, event handling, parallel execution and Boolean logic. Because the robot runs on a real Raspberry Pi, you can keep building on it after the year ends. The downsides are cost and reach. The first payment is steep compared with most kits, and the service only ships to US customers. Dexter Industries is now owned by Modular Robotics, and some notices on the site look out of date, so check current stock and shipping times before buying it as a gift. The site does not give a recommended age range.