Robot dinosaur toys: The best of 2022
In this guide, we’ll look at the very best dinosaur robots released to date – not just those that are commercially available, but also those that have long been discontinued and are only available on the aftermarket.
We decided to do it this way as frankly, there haven’t been that many great dinosaur robots released in recent years – with the 2010s being the golden era of these toys, with heavy hitters like the Miposaur, Roboraptor Blue, Zoomer Dino, and PLEO rb, all being released in the previous decade.
Sure, there have been a few exceptions – most notably the Jurassic World Training Alpha Blue robot, released in 2018 by Mattel – for the best part, the last couple of years has seen a lesser quality of dinosaur robot, primarily from manufacturers located in mainland China.
Table of Contents
Best robot dinosaur toys of 2022
How we review robot dinosaurs
For my reviews and ratings, we took four main factors into account: Interactivity, Replayability, Affordability, and Availability.
Interactivity—from a robot, I’m looking for more than a remote control. Sensors that enable interaction with touch, sound, and hand gestures, ability to roam autonomously, and if they can be programmed by the end user.
Replayability—nobody wants a robot toy that’s played with for a couple of hours, just to go back into the box before day’s end. I’m looking for features, functions, and abilities that capture interest and keep bringing you back for more.
Affordability—robots can vary in price tremendously – as can be seen from my list, with options included being priced from $900 to $10. But it’s not just their dollar amounts that matter, it’s also a question of value – which is something I’ve also factored in.
Availability—as already stated, many of the products that made it to my round-up have long been discontinued – which can make finding them a challenge. I’ll consider whether they’re still commercially available, as new from major retailers, or if it’s only possible to pick them up used on eBay, as well as how easily they can be found in the wild.
We’ve scored every robot here in each of the above criteria – providing both an individual rating for each, as well as an aggregated, overall rating, to give you a good idea of how well each product does and what it has to offer at a glance.
Best robot dinosaur toys: our picks
1. Power Your Fun Robo Pets T-Rex—
In the box: 1x robot dinosaur, 1x remote control, 4x treat cards, 1x USD charger, 1x screwdriver | Battery (robot): 3.7v 500 mAh rechargeable battery | Battery (controller): 2x 1.5v AAA batteries (not included) | Programmable: No | Recommended age: 3+ years
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What we like
- Has 5 different modes—remote control, gesture, feed, dance, and interactive game
What we don’t
- Treats are made from cardboard—won’t last long with younger children
Check Power Your Fun Robo Pets T-Rex price on Amazon
2. Squeakee The Balloon Dino—
In the box: 1 x robot dinosaur, 1 x headphones accessory, 1 x bone squeaker toy accessory, 1 x instruction booklet | Battery (robot): 6 x AA 1.5V batteries (not included) | Battery (controller): N/A | Programmable: No | Recommended age: 5+ years
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What we like
- SOMETHING
What we don’t
- No rechargeable battery—uses 1.5v AA batteries
Check Squeakee The Balloon Dino price on Amazon
3. SBEGO Intelligent Dinosaur Velociraptor—
In the box: 1 x Velociraptor robot, 1 x controller, 1 x USB charging cable, 1 x water bottle, 1 x user manual | Battery (robot): 1200mAh 3.7v rechargeable battery | Battery (controller): 2 x AAA 1.5V batteries (Not Included | Programmable: No | Recommended age: 8+ years
This robot ships with the tail detached, so the first thing you’ll need to do is attach it. Putting the tail on is easy and takes less than a minute – simply press and hold in the button found on the tail before pushing it into place. Once attached, give it a bit of a shake and wiggle to check that it’s on properly and won’t easily pop off while playing with it.
It doesn’t like carpet much, struggling to move and often tipping over, and it’s designed for indoor use only. You’re going to want to use it hardwood floors or other similar surfaces. My apartment is mostly carpeted, so I use mine on the large coffee table in my living room, which works pretty well.
Hands-down the worst thing about this robot is that it talks – and there’s no way to turn it off! It’s not limited to specific modes either, whenever you don’t play with it for a while or interact with the touch sensors on its head or chin, it will talk – spouting off dinosaur facts, or asking you not to touch it, in a lady’s voice. It’s the weirdest thing, and something that’ll be a deal breaker for some.
If you can see past the talking – this robot sounds great, with it’s realistic roars and other sound effects. It even has a mist function which together really ups the realism. When I got this robot up and running, my 3-year-old was terrified the first time she saw it, stomping towards her, roaring, and blowing out steam.
What I like
- Offers some educational value – with “words” and “popular science” modes – which help build vocabulary and dinosaur knowledge.
What I don’t
- It talks! And not just in specific modes, like singing, words, or popular science – it talks whenever you take a break from playing or interact with its touch sensors.
- While the box looks great – the quality of the packaging inside is super poor, and probably some of the worst we’ve seen.
Check SBEGO Intelligent Dinosaur Velociraptor price on Amazon
4. K9 Intelligent Dinosaur Robot—
In the box: 1 x Dinosaur robot, 1 x 2.4Ghz Controller, 1 x USB charger, 1 x screwdriver, 5 x darts, 1 x user manual | Battery (robot): Rechargeable 3.7V li-ion battery | Battery (controller): 2 x 1.5V AAA batteries (not included) | Programmable: Yes | Recommended age: 3+ years
The Fistone RC robot dinosaur is arguably the best brand-new dinosaur bots this year. When it comes to features and the ability to program, this robot offers a lot, making it one of the more full-featured, impressive interactive dinosaur toys of this year.
When it comes to features – where to begin, this robot has several different interfaces, including remote control, touch, and voice, giving you near-endless ways of interacting with it. It has both pre-programmed modes, including combat fighting mode, three different dance modes, and a mode for programming and storage for up to 50 programmed actions. It includes a rechargeable 3.7v battery and charger in the box; however, you’ll need to pick up batteries to operate the remote.
Something we were pretty disappointed by with this RC dinosaur – and something that parents with a couple of kids will no doubt agree with – is that it’s unfortunate that you can’t use more than one of these toys together. This is because the controller operates on a fixed, single-channel – meaning that if you try to give commands to one of them, you’ll send the same order to both – preventing any epic robot dinosaur battles or dance-offs. We’d hope that the manufacturer does something about this in the future, as picking up a pair of these toys is something I think that most parents would be keen on.
What I like
- Has three different dance modes, each with a different style of dance and music, with everything from dance and techno to K-Pop.
What I don’t
- Too easy to put it into program mode – something that can easily frustrate younger kids.
- Unfortunately, you can’t use two of these robots together, as the control operates on a single channel.
- The screws that secure the battery and remote covers can be a little fiddly, falling inside and being near impossible to get out – so be careful when setting it up.
Check K9 Intelligent Dinosaur Robot price on Amazon
5. Advanced Play Toys The New World of Dinosaurs Robot T-Rex—
In the box: | Battery (robot): 3x 1.5v AA batteries (not included) | Battery (controller): 2x 1.5v AA batteries (not included) | Programmable: No | Recommended age: 3+ years
Our next pick is this multi-function T-Rex TC dinosaur toy from Advanced Play. This realistic-looking dinosaur has a life-like appearance, complete with claws, teeth, scales, and more. It also has some of the most impressive functionality of any dino toy on the market, doing everything from move and roar to dance and play music. Recommended for children aged three years and up, your dinosaur-obsessed little one will fall in love with this incredible, value for money toy.
There’s a lot of functionality with this toy. Move it forward or backward, shake its head, move its arms, make it roar, spray mist, or light up. Also, it comes with several preprogrammed songs that can play at the click of a button. This toy is also 100% kid-safe, independently ASTM certified, and made from durable, non-toxic ABS plastic, which is tough enough to stand up to the rough and tumble of play.
You’ll notice immediately how big this dinosaur toy is – standing at 12” tall and measuring 23” from head to tail – it’s one of the biggest RC dinos to make it to our list. Its imposing size – especially for toddlers and younger children – make this pick truly ferocious, with the combination of its size, mist, and roar being exhilarating for any child lucky enough to receive it.
Arguably one of the more questionable things about this pick is the music, featuring a weird mix of Asian restaurant music, cell phone ring tones, and even something that sounds like a Gangnam Style rip-off. This is probably not what most parents would expect – thankfully, the music can be turned off – however, it would be better if it included more familiar kid songs. If you can live without the tunes, it’s not bad – the sound effects and spray mist features make this pick worthwhile for both younger kids, big kids, and even grown-up dino fans.
What we like
- It’s big, standing at 12” tall and measuring 23” from head to tail
- The mist spray and light effect is very nice, being one of the best things about this pick
What we don’t
- No rechargeable battery—both the remote and RC dinosaur use 1.5v AA batteries
- It’s pretty difficult to remove from the packaging, actually being screwed in
- The music choices are pretty weird, with a mix of the sort of music you’d expect to hear in the background at a Chinese restaurant and classical music
Check Advanced Play Toys The New World of Dinosaurs Robot T-Rex on Amazon
Buying guide for robot dinosaur toys
The various robot dino toys that we have delineated above have their respective pros and cons. However, we would like to give you some guidelines so as to help you make a well-informed buying decision. These are some of the main factors you should consider when choosing your kid’s robot dino:
Sensors, interactivity, and autonomy
What sets robots apart from remote controlled toys is how you can interact with them using touch, sound, voice, or hand gestures – and how some can even interact with the world around them.
Most robots have some touch capability. Even the K9 Intelligent Dinosaur Robot – the least impressive in terms of sensors and interactivity – responds to touch on its head. More sophisticated robots go a step further, having sensors that make interaction with hand gestures possible. Some of the most impressive examples of this technology include the Zoomer Dino’s training mode, the Miposaur, and more recently, the Jurassic World Alpha Training Blue – an awesome dinosaur toy from Mattel.
Some robots can even interact with other objects, each other, or roam around autonomously. The MiPosaur is a great example, coming with a trackball and being able to interact with other robots from the MiP family, battling or exploring together autonomously. Other robots are even fully-autonomous, having no other modes – the best example being the PLEO/PLEO rb.
Programmable vs. non-programmable
Most robots have some form of programming mode, but not all. And of those that do, the level of programming capabilities offered differs substantially, depending on the robot.
The simplest is more like a record mode, letting users record and playback a series of actions with the controller. Robots like the K9 Intelligent Dinosaur Robot and Zoomer Dino only offer this, making them best for giving younger kids their first taste of programming.
More complex robots have visual drag-and-drop editors, where actions can be put into sequence, recorded, and later executed to animate the robot. These editors tend to be mobile apps, being great for beginners using a smartphone or tablet. Examples include WowWee’s MiPosaur, Roboraptor Blue, and Meccano’s Meccasaur.
Experienced programmers should again look at the WowWee robot family – as the MiPosaur and Roboraptor Blue have official SDKs available at the WowWeeLabs Github repo. You’ll need to invest in a USB Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy adapter to get started if you don’t already have one.
Rechargeable vs. non-rechargeable
The general rule is that if you’re spending more than $50 on a robot, you can expect it to be rechargeable. There are some notable exceptions – with those from WowWee and the Meccano Meccasur requiring batteries. This makes it important not to assume – instead, check the manufacturers description first to avoid any disappointment when opening it.
Even if a robot is rechargeable, it’s unlikely that its controller will be – so expect to need a couple of AA or AAA batteries. Replacing disposable batteries can be expensive and bad for the environment. We’d recommend using rechargeable Nickel–metal hydride (NiMH) batteries instead. If you don’t already have some, you can get a charger with batteries for $40.