Schools & Research Labs

Buying advice

Ask for toy-safety evidence on younger kits

Coding robots for young pupils, such as Bee-Bot, Cubetto, Artie 3000 or Ozobot Bit, may be treated as toys in law, which brings their own rules. In the EU, Directive 2009/48/EC on the safety of toys sets the requirements, and in the United States, 16 CFR Part 1250 makes the ASTM F963-23 toy standard mandatory. Ask each maker for the test reports and certificates that cover the exact kit you are ordering, including any add-on packs, rather than a general statement of compliance. Kits imported from smaller makers deserve the closest check. Looking at the listings in October 2026, the 32 listings carrying a published price ranged from about $20 for the Micro:bit up to about $15,000 for the QTrobot, so no listing here needed a quote.

Check the platform will outlast your curriculum

Schools build lessons, assessments and teacher training around a platform, so a kit that is retired mid-course costs far more than its price. This page still lists LEGO Mindstorms EV3, marked as discontinued, alongside LEGO Spike Prime. Ask each maker how long the current kit and its coding app will be supported on the tablets and laptops your school uses, whether parts from older sets work with newer ones, and how much notice it gives before ending a product. Makers with an education team that publishes support timelines are easier to plan around than brands that change their range often.

Pick suppliers who handle school purchasing

Buying for a school or university department is rarely a one-click order. Ask whether each maker or its education distributor accepts purchase orders, invoices on credit terms, ships to several school sites and provides the supplier documents your finance office needs. In the EU, Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 expects many toys and electronic products to have a responsible economic operator in the Union, so a distributor inside your market also gives you someone accountable for compliance. Keeping to a small number of makers across year groups cuts down on the chargers, apps and teacher training you have to manage.

What to look for

• Curriculum, lesson plans and teacher training from the maker
• Open software interfaces such as Python or ROS for older students
• Spare parts and repair options for classroom wear and tear

Common questions

Do these makers offer school pricing?

Many do. Request a quote for class sets, and THG can combine robots from several makers into one order.

Which robots suit university research?

Look for open software, published specifications and an active developer community. Competition platforms such as DJI's RoboMaster and the NAO-based RoboCup platform are common starting points for university teams.

Sources and further reading

• Directive 2009/48/EC on the safety of toys — EUR-Lex, European Union.
  The EU toy safety rules that cover many coding toys and robot kits for younger children.
• 16 CFR Part 1250: Safety standard for toys — eCFR, US Government Publishing Office.
  Makes the ASTM F963-23 toy safety specification mandatory for toys sold in the United States.
• Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products — EUR-Lex, European Union.
  Sets out which EU-based operator must answer for many products sold into the Union from abroad.