Dash and HP Otto: Two Robots, Two Ways to Teach Robotics
Dash and HP Otto are two coding robots in the MORAVIA Education family. Both teach coding, and both grow with students from block-based coding into text-based coding, and both come with free lessons and teacher support. But they each meet different classroom needs, and knowing where each one fits makes it easier to plan your robotics program, whether you start with one robot, add the second later, or use both at once.
This guide covers what each robot does, which classroom needs each one meets, and where to find getting-started resources for both.
Dash: Ready to Code from the First Lesson
Dash arrives fully assembled and ready to program. Students open an app, connect to Dash, and start coding in the same class period. That makes Dash a strong fit for younger learners and for any classroom where coding time is limited.
Students ages 6 to 11 program Dash to move, sing, dance, flash its lights, respond to voices, make sounds, and tell a story. Along the way, they learn sequencing, events, loops, algorithms, operations, and variables through self-directed play and guided challenges. Dash's sensors let it respond to its surroundings, so students write programs that react to sounds, obstacles, and button presses.
The free apps scaffold that growth. Wonder uses a visual, picture-based approach suited to students ages 6 and up. Blockly introduces fundamental and advanced concepts, including variables, events, and conditionals, through projects and puzzles. When students are ready for text-based coding, Blockly Pro, available in Google Chrome with a paid Make Wonder subscription, shows the same program in Blockly, JavaScript, and Python and lets students move between them as often as they like, all while still programming Dash.
For teachers, Make Wonder adds pre-built lessons and activities you can assign and track from a teacher dashboard. Students can also code a Virtual Dash on screen, which gives every student 1:1 coding time even when a class shares a few robots. The apps run on iPad, Android tablets, and Chrome browsers, and tablets do not need an internet connection once the apps are installed. Accessories such as the Sketch Kit, Launcher, and Gripper Building Kit extend what students can build and program.
HP Otto: Students Build the Robot They Program
HP Otto starts one step earlier: students build the robot before they program it. Assembly requires no soldering, only the screwdriver included in the kit. As students connect the motors, sensors, and lights to the circuit board, they learn what each component does, so when they write code, they understand the hardware it controls.
Otto comes in two versions. The Builder Kit includes every plastic part, so students open the box and start building with no 3D printer needed. The Creator Kit has students 3D print and customize the exterior themselves. Once built, Otto moves, follows a line, detects and avoids obstacles, measures distance, lights its eyes and top panel in color, and plays sounds.
Students program Otto through web and mobile apps. The Code module offers icon blocks, word blocks, and MicroPython, and students simply choose which one to program in. Otto is also compatible with C++ through the Arduino IDE, so students keep advancing on the same robot. Otto is designed for ages 8 and up with supervision, and ages 14 and up independently.
Otto also grows with your classroom over time. Four expansion kits, Sense, Emote, Interact, and Invent, add new sensors, displays, controls, and mechanisms. Because the shell is 3D printable, the robot can be extended rather than replaced.
The curriculum is built for teachers who are new to robotics. Otto's lessons follow a recommended order, starting with Meeting Robots, and each 45-minute lesson includes a teacher guide, a slide deck, and optional student worksheets. The full curriculum is free with an account.
Matching the Robot to Your Classroom
For younger learners, or any class that wants to start coding right away, Dash is the natural first choice. There is nothing to assemble, and the Wonder and Blockly apps meet students where they are.
If a whole class shares a small set of robots, Dash with Make Wonder keeps every student coding, with Virtual Dash on screen between turns with the physical robot.
If your goal is engineering and electronics, choose Otto. Students learn how sensors, motors, and circuit boards work by connecting them, and the Otto lessons build from individual components to sensors to autonomous projects such as a line follower and an autonomous vehicle.
If you run a makerspace with a 3D printer, the Otto Creator Kit brings design into the lesson. Without a printer, the Builder Kit gives students the same build, wiring, and coding experience with every part included.
If your students are ready for text-based coding, both robots support them: Dash through Blockly Pro, and Otto through MicroPython and C++.
In grades 3 through 5, the age ranges overlap, so either robot fits, and the two work well side by side.
For multi-year planning, Dash can anchor coding in the elementary grades, with Otto adding engineering in upper elementary and middle school.
Using Dash and HP Otto Together
Dash and Otto share a coding path. Both move students from blocks to text: Dash to Javascript and Python through Blockly Pro, and Otto to a version of Python designed for small devices like Otto's circuit board. What students learn on one robot carries over to the other. A student who has programmed Dash to react to an obstacle already understands the logic behind Otto's ultrasonic sensor. On Otto, that student connects the sensor themselves.
Put simply, Dash teaches students how to program a robot, and Otto teaches them how a robot is built. Together, they give students both halves of robotics.
Getting Started with Dash
The Wonder Workshop Getting Started page gathers setup videos, downloadable guides, and app links in one place. Begin with the Dash Getting Started Guide, which covers caring for Dash, how the blocks in Blockly work, and how to track progress through the Blockly puzzles. The printable Blockly blocks let you demonstrate coding concepts without a device, and the free tier of Make Wonder gives you pre-built lessons to assign and track. For onboarding and implementation advice, watch our free on-demand webinars.
Getting Started with HP Otto
The HP Otto Educators Zone lists every lesson in the recommended order, along with the Teacher's Manual. Create a free account to access the teacher guides, slide decks, and worksheets. The assembly manuals walk you through building Otto, and the free online simulator lets you test code and electronics before your robots arrive. The HP Otto app is available on iOS and Android. For a complete first lesson, read Meeting Otto: A Complete First Lesson with the HP Otto Starter Kit.
Find the Right Fit
Every class has students who light up for different reasons. Some want a robot with a personality of its own, one they can talk to, dance with, and send off to tell a story they wrote. Dash is made for those students. It is ready to go the moment it comes out of the box, and its voice, lights, and expressive movements turn every program into a performance. Other students want to know how things work and make them their own. They want to wire the sensors, choose the parts, design a new shell, and rebuild the robot into something no one else has made. Otto is made for those students, with a design that invites them to configure and reconfigure it as their ideas grow. Offering both gives every student a robot that matches the way they imagine, and a way into robotics that feels like their own.