August 2020 Notable Toys — Robotics

If a robot toy were crossed with an insect, what would you get? A HEXBUG! For Innovation First, the result has been a sellout, with demand overwhelming supply in the products’ first year. “The power of observation is important to succeed,” Joel Carter, vice president of marketing at Innovation First, told TDmonthly Magazine, explaining that the inspiration for HEXBUGs came because of a long line at a robotics trade show. “We saw people waiting to pay big bucks for a bag full of component parts and an instruction sheet on how to build robot bugs that didn’t do much. We knew we could do better cost-wise and come up with a cooler product.” Getting from the initial idea to actual production took nine months. The company introduced the HEXBUG in spring 2007 and sold more than 1.5 million units by year end. “HEXBUGs were a runaway success that we had not anticipated,” Joel said. Innovation First began producing electronics for robots in 1996. Today, the company is an industry leader in hobby, competition and education robotics, as well as a developer of consumer robotics toys. In addition to HEXBUGs, Innovation First produces the Vex Robotics Design System, the top-selling robotics platform in middle and high schools.