In this new digital world, young people now grow up playing video games and surfing the Internet instead of playing games outside; clearly play dates are changing. Canadian company EZ-Robot wants to lead the way this new generation of youngsters play by bringing technology out of the screen into their hands.

To do this, they have released an easy to use, do-it-yourself robotics kit. But this kit takes robot building one step further by only providing you with the guts of the robot.

For $235, the kit provides you with three standard and two rotating servomotors, five sensors including an ultrasonic distance sensor, wireless tracking camera, wireless Bluetooth controller, a battery pack, other parts and software to control your creation without the need for computer code.

Like we said, these are just the guts of the robot. The fun begins, when you chose which of your currently lifeless toys to which you will grant life. As long as the parts fit, you will be able to animate and program the robot using the included software and controller. For the advance roboticist, the EZ-Robotics kit also supports the iRobot Roomba and Arduino software platforms.

EZ-Robot kit, Wall-E themed (via EZ-Robot)

However, with the included software, you can program face recognition, object tracking and slew of other functions. You can even program your robot to be controlled by a Wii remote, joystick, or a touch tablet.

At the moment, EZ-Robot says they are sold out of kits. It might be too late to get this as a holiday present for your favorite nerd, but this kit is sure to make an excellent gift at any time in the year.  An excellent way to pull them away from the screen for a little bit and let their imagination run wild, as they turn into a mad scientist.

I hate to admit, but this is very much like LEGO Mindstorm NXT, minus the LEGOs.

Eavesdropper