Distance
Hat
Give Cubelets a sense of space. With the Distance Hat, creations can dodge obstacles, chase movement, or interact with anything that comes close—a hand, a wall, or other Cubelets. A sleek boost of proximity-sensing in a tiny package.
For most of the last decade, Cubelet development has been about refining what's already there: durability, fun, efficacy. The Hat Series is a new direction. Three brand-new building blocks, launched back-to-back, designed to make Cubelets accessible to more classrooms than ever — and Distance Hat is the one teachers have been asking for.
A single, focused line of sight
Distance Hat fires a beam of infrared light forward, then measures how much of it bounces back. Closer objects reflect more light; farther objects reflect less.
The output is a single BlockValue from 0 to 255 — close to 255 when something is right in front, falling toward 0 as objects move away. Your robot probably doesn't need to understand what's in front of it. It just needs to react.
→ Drag the slider to see how the reading changes with distance.
All the sense, half the cube
Most Cubelets are little robotic cubes with five connection faces and the circuitry to match. A Hat is something simpler: a flat tile that sits on top of any robot, with a single connector underneath.
Less plastic. Less circuitry. Less cost. The same sensing intelligence the Distance Cubelet has built — now in a form that any classroom or kitchen-table robotics kit can afford to put on every robot.
Three Hats, one big idea
A simpler, flatter, more affordable way to add a single sense or output to any Cubelets robot. Each Hat does one thing well — and clips onto any Cubelet you've already got.
Brightness Hat
A single photoreceptor that detects light and dark — the firefly's one-pixel view of the world.
Mood Ring
A ring of multicolor LEDs. Display moods, counts, themes, or whatever your robot is feeling.
Distance Hat
Measures how far away something is — 10 to 80 cm — using infrared light.
It's a building block — and a robot you can program
Every Cubelet, including every Hat, is a tiny programmable robot. Click them together for instant behavior, or go deeper by modifying their software with one of the free apps.
It's a building block
No coding required. The robot's behavior emerges from what you connect and how you connect it. Perfect for ages 4 and up.
Swap its Personality
Change a Cubelet's programming with the touch of a button. No-code, tactile computational thinking via the Cubelets App.
Cubelets Apps →See the data inside
Visualize what's flowing between your Cubelets in real time with Data Logger in Cubelets Console.
Cubelets Console →Code with Blockly or C
Build behaviors with drag-and-drop Blockly, or write C code that turns teams of robots into bigger meta-robots.
Cubelets Console →Specs
- SensorInfrared distance, directional
- Range10 cm to 80 cm
- OutputBlockValue, 0–255
- Connector1, fits any Cubelet in any orientation
- Form factor2D Hat (flat tile)
- CompatibilityCubelets OS4, Cubelets App, Cubelets Console
- Ages4 and up
- WarrantyOne year, comprehensive
Sizing
Research and development at Modular Robotics has been generously funded in part by SBIR grants from the National Science Foundation.
2020
Learning® Magazine Teachers’ Choice℠
Award for the Classroom
2019
Parents’ Choice Recommended Award®
2019
Common Sense Education
Top Pick for Learning
2019
The National Parenting Center
Seal of Approval
2018
STEM.org
Authenticated™ Educational Product
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Cubelets Resources.
Everything you need to teach with Cubelets robot blocks.
Explore a huge collection of K-12 lessons, activities, guides, training, and more.
New to Cubelets?
Learn everything you need to know to start creating more with Cubelets robot blocks in this handy Getting Started Guide.
Go further with Cubelets apps.
Go beyond the building blocks and play with the code inside. Cubelets apps make it easy to create even more with your Cubelets.
Looking for some inspiration?
There are millions of robots you can create with Cubelets. Check out these robots to help inspire your inventions.
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Education.
Cubelets robot blocks are used by educators all around the world to help students explore computational thinking, coding, and STEM.
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