Scientists at EPFL, a polytechnic institute in Lausanne, Swizerland, have developed Thymio II, a low cost (about $110 USD) educational robot designed to introduce children to technology and robotics.
The little programmable white robot is packed with sensors and LEDs, with each sensor associated with a colored LED, allowing the kids to visualize the activation of the sensors during specific maneuvers.

The Thymio II robot has:

• Proximity sensors to detect close objects
• Ground-directed sensors to detect the edge of a table or a line to follow
• Accelerometers to measure acceleration, detect impacts and indicate gravity
• Microphone
• Temperature sensor
• Memory card for recording sound
• Open source software

Check out the video of the kids programming the robot.

Fun + Education = Good Stuff!