You can get some of these (like the smaller TOMY robots) for pretty cheap on eBay. They're usually broken, but the innards of these robots are so interesting, just taking them apart is a learning experience. TOMY was brilliant at making seemingly sophisticated toys that were actually run by a single DC motor; all the movements, sounds, sensing etc. were implemented using gears and cam shafts and other mechanisms. A great way to learn about simple machines, and a bonus if you (or your kid) can repair them and bring a 40-year-old robot back to life.

Here's someone taking apart the exact robot I had, and showing that mechanism: https://www.windytan.com/2013/02/the-atomic-powered-robot.ht...

https://youtu.be/uB4FqfIX9JY?si=VokrpZM8xAhLxdVN&t=184

Crazy times growing up back then.

should it be a robot? or was it just a kewltoy/LOGO primer ?

I was obsessed with the Omnibot 2000, and for the brief and terrible time I was a Scout, I wanted to build the Gizmo robot in Boy's Life[2] but it was just a trash can with a motor. It bothered me to no end that Androbot[3,4] had no arms. The only real robot-type thing I actually had was an Armatron (the grey version.)

[0]https://www.theoldrobots.com/odex.html

[1]https://www.blackgate.com/2019/07/31/arok-the-robot/

[2]https://www.theoldrobots.com/GismoRobot.html

[3]https://www.theoldrobots.com/bob.html

[4]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topo_%28robot%29

I miss when the future was fun. Now we're going to get robots but they'll be designed to put us out of work or shoot us dead in the streets, and none of them will look nearly as interesting.