Bits Bytes & Bots

We just did a birthday party with these folks for 10 8-​year old boys. The premise is fantastic as they show up at your door with all of the gear necessary for robot sumo wrestling. It’s not cheap, but we really thought the kids would love it and they were initially extremely excited. Unfortunately, I think the execution, at least of our party, did not come close to living up to the concept.
My first issue is with the way the event is structured. The party was scheduled for 90 minutes and the kids spent almost the entire first hour programming the robots. The software, although drag and drop, is not the easiest to use for an 8-​year old. If I was working with my boys one-​on-​one I think they would be fine, but it seemed tricky in a large group with a 10:1 child: instructor ratio. This was compounded by an instructor who with her language and approach seemed to be expecting a level of computer skill and familiarity most of these boys did not possess. Beyond that, I would argue that it is just pretty unrealistic to expect hyper 8-​year olds who are all excited about!!! robots!!! to spend the better part of an hour staring at a computer screen while a herd of robots sits lifeless and forbidden a few feet out of reach. The next issue came when we actually tried to use the robots… they plain just did not work as designed. The robots have light sensors that are supposed to keep them within the wooden sumo circle the instructor brought. The robots at our party almost exclusively ignored the programming to stay on the circle and just bolted straight ahead across the floor. It was at this point that a good chunk of the kids were lost as all of the buildup of!!! robot sumo!!! came crashing down in disappointment. The last issue was that the robots proved to be extremely fragile. In the rare instance where two of them would actually manage to collide as intended on the circle they would instantly shed parts both minor and critical.
I really wanted this to work out as it had sounded like a lot of fun. At least with this age group it seems like they really need to adjust the ratio of computer to robot time. Maybe start off the session with a demonstration of two robots battling so the kids can actually see what they are building towards. Maybe break up the programming into stages with some action in between, or do something so that the kids start off with a starter program and spend less time programming. Ultimately any of these changes are useless if the robots aren’t reliable. Maybe older kids would have the patience to deal with troubleshooting and constantly repairing robots, but it quickly drained whatever excitement remained out of the room for our crew.
Maybe a great party for older kids, or maybe more fun if it actually went off as it was seemingly intended, but I would not recommend this for this age range without changes in structure and significant improvements in execution.

This camp was fabulous for my children. They learned so much!!! The teacher was smart, friendly and kind. I felt that he was very attentive to my child’s needs and level of experience. I highly recommend this camp!

We went back for the Advanced version of the camp, and he loved it even more than the first week. He’s excited to go back next year and get up to the Master level camp.

Bits, Bytes, and Bots is a vacation day and summer camp program designed for young children, and has a primary focus on technology. My child has not attended yet and I will come back and edit my review when he does, however, I felt the need to write a review about the signup process on their web site.
I had called and the (I assume) franchise owner spoke to me that they would be having a camp more Northwest in Austin, and I had asked if she would contact me when they nailed that down. She did follow up when it was posted with a link to the order form, and I followed the link to register and place deposits for the camps that my son wished to attend.
Again, to place DEPOSITS for the camp my son wished to attend.
Despite checking the appropriate areas that I was signing up for a deposit, including checking an area that it offered me after I had gone through the order process that I gave them permission to charge the remainder to my checking account on the deadline, their online ordering system charged me the full amount for all sessions in full, right now. I did not give them permission to do this, nor had I had any intention of paying in full right now.
When I contacted the owner by email immediately after realizing they had done that, and asked her to void the transaction and to withdraw only what I had intended to pay, she sent me back an email that she was unable to do that but could send a check back on Monday after they pulled the money they were not authorized to take out of my account.
I am extremely angry that despite never giving permission for the full amount to be withdrawn that I now have to scramble to get money into a checking account that is specifically only kept for exact electronic payments, and hope that I can wire money from a savings account fast enough to cover the check that they had no permission to withdraw.
Businesses owe it to their clients to have ordering systems that take only what they have permission to take — Bits, Bytes and Bots clearly does not have an ordering system that honors what the customer actually agrees to, nor do they have any ability to make it right moments after the transaction.
If their deposits weren’t large and non-​refundable, I would not patronize this place if you paid me. If you’re going to teach my child technology, you should have a handle on the technology you utilize so it doesn’t screw your clients.
later edit: After talking about it with my husband, we decided to put a stop payment at the bank and painstakingly explained that their form’s radio button did not have any options. Her response, within 5 minutes? That she would cancel everything (as I had asked her to do initially and which she claimed she could not do) since I said «I would stop the payment» anyway.
Very unethical, and dishonest to boot — my two pet peeves.