Bot Garage Review

Posted by Amy Solomon on November 8th, 2011
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Bot Garage is a terrific universal app where players can create and save unique, fantastical robots inspired by the characters found in the new popup book Lots of Bots by David A. Carter and Noelle Carter.


This app opens to a page consisting of a selection of blueprints that together make up the arms, legs, body and head of the robot that one is creating. To start, the player is directed to begin with the body as this section of blueprints is lit brightly and flashes, nicely getting the player's attention. A tap here brings the players ultimately to the section where one can choose among ten body parts each as one uses arrow buttons or scrolls through to explore this great collection of robot bodies in varied shapes and colors, each with a lovely hand-drawn and cartoony quality that will be appreciated by children and adults alike.


Once this decision is made, the other sections of the robot body that one is creating flash and are lit as well, prompting the player to make selections for the head, legs and arms as well. As with the body, each of these sections contains ten choices, but these areas of the body also contain moving parts as well that are demonstrated as one checks out each body element, looking for the perfect fit for one's creation. A spare part can also be chosen, a just-for-fun selection that also moves and ultimately adds to noises that the robots will be making. A scene for these bots to exist in is also chosen, with a very nice variety found in the selection of ten offered.

When the bot is complete, the scene is selected and all is saved. Then the bot comes to life with the glory of all of its moving parts and related noises of the parts which were chosen. These sound effects are loud and potentially overwhelming to some, and for this reason I wish they could be muted upon request - something my son, however, would have no part in as he loves the over-the-top noises his creations make.


The use of blueprints for each of these body areas is a lovely touch to this building app as is the whimsical rhyme delivered in both text and narration about the importance of each part, with this lyrical style continuing throughout, as this app enthusiastically encourages the player to make changes to his robot if so desired, as well as to save the creations in the garage for later. I also appreciate how after saving, one can go back for a tweak as well.


The interface here utterly intuitive, drawing my son into this world with no help from adults. Although he can create these robots on his own and does so often, this app has quickly become a family favorite as Bot Garage is a top application to be shared between my husband and my boy, and now my son’s new negotiation tactic to stay up a little later is “Just one bot” - a plea we find hard to resist. My boy loves to create these bots, save them and show them off as well. One can name these robots - something my son has also taken a liking to, naming one after his favorite athletic coach as well as “typing” names in himself - as of now random letters tapped, but meaningful to him, I am sure.


This app has also filtered its way into my son's play time as well. Always really into robots, my son has made “sand robots” out of sand and pine cones in preschool and now has created a robot factory out of all of his blocks based on this game, which he refuses to take down so we all trip over it as we move about the family room.


This may not be an entirely new idea as we have other apps of related ideas and game play, but the quality here, the parts offered with movements and finally the sound effects, the blueprint elements and narrated rhymes all take this style of app to a higher level that we all enjoy.


If interested in other apps based on the work of David A. Carter, do look into the app, "Spot the Dot," also reviewed on Giggle Apps. I am fascinated by David A. Carter’s paper art found within this popular pop-up book. I would love to see more of these treasures turned digital as well.

iPhone Screenshots

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Bot Garage screenshot 1 Bot Garage screenshot 2 Bot Garage screenshot 3 Bot Garage screenshot 4 Bot Garage screenshot 5

iPad Screenshots

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Bot Garage screenshot 6 Bot Garage screenshot 7 Bot Garage screenshot 8 Bot Garage screenshot 9 Bot Garage screenshot 10
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