The Dash is advertised as “A child’s first real robot friend”, which brings to mind questions of how prolific robots are going to be once our children are adults. Well, if the sci-fi future is approaching as quickly as it seems to be, it’s best to prepare kids early.

Fears of a dystopian future aside, Dash is super cute and, in fairness, far less sinister than Furbies, which spread with the speed of tribbles when they were ‘in’. This toy runs by a similar logic, and far better technology: Dash responds to voice, navigates objects, dances and sings. Whilst we were joking about preparing kids for the future, it isn’t that far from the truth: Dash comes with different apps that enable different behaviours to be created, which you’re able to program and load up without needing a new base robot. This is excellent, giving Dash a far longer life span as a toy, allowing him to change with your child’s age and current interests and, even better, teaching children the logic of programming and coding from a young age.

We got the ‘Wonder’ program, which allows kids from 6+ to program their robot with a picture-based coding language. This is a perfect starting point for kids, allowing them to program Dash with general responses and behaviours, whilst the other apps allow you to expand on this by teaching Dash to do things like play the xylophone. In the most part, the different programs allow children to program Dash with increasing levels of complexity depending on their age and experience.

Dash is L6.69”, W7.17” and H6.34”. It has up to five hours’ battery life, and has a standby time of 30 days. It can be charged by a normal Micro USB, and connects to Bluetooth so you can program and communicate with it.

The concept of Dash is fantastic, not just as an engaging toy, but as a way to teach kids the logic of coding through systems that are broken down into pictures, lights and clearly explained steps. Dash builds the pathways to easily engage with the concept of coding, which, in an increasingly tech-based world, sets kids up well to embrace the skills they may need in the future. And they get a cute robot in the process! RRP £147

Current Cheapest Price

4.5 out of 5

Pros

Well-constructed
Cute!
Wide range of behaviour upgrades
Teaches coding
Suitable for all ages
 

Cons
The robots are taking over