Science Museum Robot Bank

This little fellow caught my eye when I was searching for items for my son's new Space themed bedroom!

The idea of a Robot Money Box appealed in itself. On further investigation, it had much more to offer...

This Robot talks, counts, has blue eyes that flash, moves its arms & verbally encourages you to save your money!

The robot recognises coins, and keeps a running total of your savings for you. Just press Balance and it will tell you how much you have saved so far!

There is a sensor on the Robot. When activated by movement, it will say one of the following:

"Have a nice day."
"How do you do?"
"Hi"
"Hello"
"How are you?"

You can even set yourself goals - a cash amount & the time in which you want to save it. When there is a target set, that has not yet been reached, the Robot will use one of these phrases:

"Don't forget to insert coins today!"
"I'm hungry. Please fill me up!"
"Please remember to save today!"
"You have almost achieved your target. Please add more!"

On reaching your goal it says:

"Well done, you did it! You have met your goal. Great job!"

When you decide to take money out, you can key in the amount and it will deduct that from its total (although you do have to physically count out the coins yourself at this point - it's not that advanced!). Beware - the Robot does not approve of cash withdrawals! It says:

"Uh-oh! I hope you have a good reason for withdrawing your savings!"

The LCD display shows the date & time. There is also an alarm feature & the Robot will say:

"Hey! It's time to wake up."

NB: The Robot 'sleeps' from midnight to 8am, so will not move or talk during these times. Just as well or a wandering pet could set it off! The Sound can be turned off - and then it will just move & light up.

The Robot Bank seems to be priced up to around £24.99. However, I bought my son's for £9.99 at PC World! I should point out that my version is matt black not silver as in the picture. The picture on PC World's website shows silver as well, so be aware that what you get might not be identical. I personally prefer the black anyway.

I love this money box and so does my son. The only thing I'm not so keen on is the Robotic voice, but my son seems to love that too!

I don't think the batteries are always included (they were in this case), but you should know that it requires 4 AA's to operate. When they need changing, you will also have to reset the data.

One little tip:

Always remember to get this Robot out when you have guests. You'll be surprised how much change they will feed it to see how it works!!!