Robotics for Children / Kids

What a fortunate turn of event to have landed among one of the rare quality chit chat, during work day with mere colleague(s). (And we're not even working in a field that anyhow related to what the chatting topic was hah!)

Mindstorm from LEGO - http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx

• Light sensor
• Touch sensor
• Central command units

• Can make a "lift" unit with one command unit.
• Can make a colour balls "exterminator".
• Can make a robotic vaccuum pal.
• Drag & Drop programming approach.

Arduino - http://www.arduino.cc/

• Seems like far more advance and complicated
• Cost a lot lesser than Mindstorm (I suppose)
• Coding intense.

If any parents can afford the price tag, it'll be great to have an early exposure to practical algorithms. (Warning, shall drastically kill-off artistic+sensual part of our brain, hah!)