The 6–in-1 Solar Robot Kit promises to deliver hours of happy fun from nothing more than some plastic, a few gears and the output from any nearby solar object. Not only can the kit be assembled into a Mars Rover clone, with its own funky solar power source, but also a fan, windmill, boat or nuclear submarine capable of sustaining life under the polar ice cap. OK, so we lied about the last bit, got a little over excited. Best of all, if your local sun is unavailable, you can try a standard 50W lightbulb as a power source instead, which is good to know. £12.99.
It’s a DIY beginner’s kit that’s perfect for anyone with more than a passing interest in robots (which is everyone, surely?). You can build the kit 6 different ways which means once you’ve finished making one robot, you can take it apart and turn it into a solar powered boat, windmill, or car and that’s just 3 of them. The diagrams are very easy to follow, we even let the office luddite have a go at building one. Not only is it really fun to make but it’s great for showing you solar power in action, so it’s educational as well as fun to make.