Our Overview of Makeblock's Ultimate Kit 2.0

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The aptly named Ultimate Kit 2.0 is the final kit in the line-up of educational robots from Makeblock. With over 160 independent mechanical parts and modules, the Ultimate Kit 2.0 answers the call for almost limitless creative freedom. Match this wit…

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Hallo,

We would like to get our boy his first robotics set. He has already played with Snap Circuits electronic circuit boards and advanced building sets. He also does Scratch and started playing with Python coding… He is 8 years old.

I have been looking into the great Makeblock kits and are not sure which is currently the better and most up-to-date set of the following two:

mBot Ultimate 2.0
mBot Ranger 3-in-1

I noticed the following:

The mBot Ultimate 2.0 has the MegaPi whereas the mBot Ranger has the ‘newer’ Me Auriga.

It also seems that the Me Auriga has different accessories (sensors) available, which all seem newer than the ones for the MegaPi unit. The sensors are not compatible it seems?

I would really appreciate if you can get back to me as soon as possible as I would like to order the kit. Important for us is that the kit is up-to-date and current so that he can grow with it and expand as he’d like. The initial cost of the kit is not a factor, it is more important that the kit is current and expandable so that he can use it for the coming years…

Thanks,

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

The Ultimate 2.0 is the most customizable and full-featured mBot available. It definitely has the most ability to grow with a young maker. The different controller doesn’t necessarily indicate that one is better than the other. The Ranger is a bit more user-friendly, but you will also be more limited in what you can do/create with the kit.

The Ranger is made for ages 8+ and the Ultimate kit for ages 12+.

I think that I would recommend the Ranger, simply because the complexity of the ultimate kit might be overwhelming and the Ranger still has a lot of options for adding on and growing as his skills increase.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for the response.

So just to be clear, the Me components can be used on the MegaPi as well? For example the Me LED Matrix, other Me sensors, etc.?

Cheers,

Andrew

Update:

Just had this response on same question from Makeblock Tech Support:

“Ultimate 2.0(MegaPi) is not included in mBlock 5 support list. If you use mBlock 5, Ranger (meAuriga) is ok.
If your son is trying to play with Python, I think you can consider Codey Rocky.”

But Codey Rocky is not really his thing as he kies the build and engineering part of robotics as well

Cheers,

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

The components are made for a specific type of controller. Ranger parts will work with the meAuriga but not the MegaPi. From what I understand.

I just built a MBot Mega and although it runs well and we’ve had a good experience so far I’m worried about one thing… the educational sketch based software seems to only support the specific mix of h/w that comes with this Mega kit… it doesn’t come with the robot arm and many features supported within say this 2.0 or Ranger but that’s to be expected… what I was hoping for was a way to add a camera and robot arm and many other types of devices later but see no way to code them in this Scratch Block code since the extensions to add the library’s and access currently unused ports with different device types don’t seem to exist. I’m assuming I might be able to expand using the C in Arduino code but is there any way to Tailor the Sketch code to the add-on devices by just selecting say the Ultimate 2.0; device to code and plugging in a MBot Mega or Ranger instead and uploading what it compiles to a different robot type? Or, Can you create your own sketch code version tailored to the add on devices you want to add? What’s possible?

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