Meccano M.A.X Robot – Review

Meccano is something I always enjoyed as a child and to be honest, it’s nothing like the sets you get these days. Meccano nowadays is amazing. Even the box of the Meccano M.A.X robot looks awesome. The Meccano M.A.X. Robot is an impressive robot which combines Artificial Intelligence with customisable programming. Once built and you begin to program, you can create your own unique little friend. Your robot can tell you jokes, dance, talk and have conversations with you. There are so many possibilities with this toy, read on.

Opening the box and taking out all 332 parts required to build M.A.X does look a little daunting with its cables, nuts, bolts and battery pack. Don’t let that put you off, we made it and it felt great when we did.

Thankfully, the instruction book has a simple step by step picture filled steps to build this with your child or if they feel up to building it on their own. The tools that come to help are invaluable. One to screw in the nuts and bolts and one to hold the bit in place. We built this together and it was a lot of fun. There are times when more than two hands help. Along with the parts, there are stickers to get added once M.A.X has been built. Don’t forget the Brain Module, sensors and more. Top thing about M.A.X is that there are no batteries required. He comes with his very own wall charger.

It can get a little bit difficult with the different sizes of screws that you need to fit together to build M.A.X, no need to fret the instruction manual has a handy little guide that matches the screws exactly to the picture. Great isn’t it? Tyler and Lucas were amazed and had a lot of fun building it together.

I think you can see why this toy is aimed at ages 10 and upwards. It’s not simple, it’s complicated to build, but it’s worth it, trust me.

It’s not just nuts and bolts that kids learn to use, there is also electronics and coding. Not only that, M.A.X will tell you if you have wired him incorrectly, yes, really.

The more you build, the more you can see M.A.X come to life and the boys got more and more excited to see what he could do.

A couple of afternoons of building together and discussing how it all fitted, M.A.X started to look like the robot we were excited to meet.

And here he is. Meet M.A.X our new robot friend. At 12″ tall, he’s impressive. A tip is to charge the battery pack while you are building it. That way you are ready to get M.A.X to work when you are ready.

Connecting the electronics, follow the instructions, which again are clear and simple. Once Meccano M.A.X is ready, you want to download his brain via the link in the instructions and connect M.A.X to your computer via the USB cable. M.A.X is programmed to speak English, but other languages are available. Get installing his mind and away you go. He’s very intuitive.

What are you waiting for, switch on Meccano M.A.X. He springs to life, he tests he is in working order and if he’s not, he will let you know where you’ve gone wrong. He then asks lots of different questions about his owner and builder. He is amazing. M.A.X uses artificial intelligence along with customisable programming, allowing you to make him your own. 

The more you play with Meccano M.A.X the more he learns. There is so much you can do with M.A.X, he grows with your child and there is so much to do. M.A.X can be used for playing games, answering questions, be a DJ and tell jokes. M.A.X has infrared sensors, which allows him to move around without bumping into anything. And we’ve only scratched the surface.

He can be controlled using voice commands, the buttons on the MeccaBrain keypad or through the app, which you can download via Apple or Android.  Do make sure that the button that is on the back is turned to Robot mode rather than Drone mode, Drone is used if you want to turn your Meccano into something else, without speech.

Meccano M.A.X has a hand that can open and close allowing home to hold small items. One of our huge plus points we noticed is that his charge last for ages and when he does run out, you just need to plug him in. We’ve played loads on one charge.

I love how expressive Meccano M.A.X eyes are. He even has eyebrows.

We all think that Meccano M.A.X. is fantastic.  There is so much to learn, do and play with this toy. He grows and learns as your child grows and learns. It is aimed at 10 plus and I did help out both boys when building. But, it was great fun to do together. With an RRP of £149.99 he is not the cheapest, but if you are looking to give your child a STEM gift or they love robots or building, it is perfect.  There’s so much that has gone into this toy and we were all in awe when he came to life. Smitten from his first word. I cannot tell you how incredible this toy really is and we’ve only touched on what he can do. There is the app and more he can learn.

He might seem a little pricey, but just look at how much we love him. He’s not flimsy and works. He’s intelligent and funny. Would you like your own little robot friend? You can check out our other Meccano Robot we created and a Meccano Ferrari.

Disclosure – We received Meccano M.A.X in return for our honest review, all words and opinions are my own.