This is the gateway, not the destination. It's a low-cost piece of kit that removes a potential barrier to entry. I can't tell most of my mates to build a robo

This is the gateway, not the destination. It's a low-cost piece of kit that removes a potential barrier to entry. I can't tell most of my mates to build a robot for their kid to learn with. I can't support one I built myself. I CAN tell them to pick one of these up to help get their little monsters on their way to happily building SkyNet. A lot of parents aren't going to DIY a robot for their kids. They don't have the skillset and aren't going to learn it for something their kid might not even enjoy dealing with. They might recognize the Root rt0 as the spiritual successor to the Roamer and Turtle they grew up with in school though, if they were in the UK at least. I enjoyed using a Turtle, which is basically an ancient massive tethered version of this, with the Logo programming language. You can slap that Not-Lego plate on and grab a some Lego Technics, and suddenly you've fitted a rocket launcher and you're programming a tank. They can then graduate to Lego Mindstorms or an Arduino or micro:bit or some Pi robotics kit afterwards. And the Root rt0 will likely keep a good chunk of its value on resale. The idea is to buy it and have your kids love it and outgrow it. It's the push that makes them move, if you will.