Romo is basically the toy I dreamt about as a child come to fruition. And even though I grew out of my toy phase many years ago, I'm shocked at how much fun I've been having testing it for this review. At its core, the $129 robot is a mechanical wheelbase that works with a free companion app on your iOS device to bring it to life. Romo, who's landed on earth, needs your help to train for the robot space race. But Romo is a lot more than that.

The toy robot can be driven around like a remote control car, and a telepresence mode essentially turns it into Skype on wheels. While you can program Romo through the app itself, you also get access to a SDK that allows you to code apps of your very own. I'm no developer, but I haven't had this much fun reviewing a product in a long time. For children and adults alike, Romo combines equal parts smarts and heart, and earns our Editors' Choice award.

Design and Setup

Out of the box, Romo is really just a set of wheels. It uses a tank-like continuous track design, and measures 3 by 4.5 by 5.6 inches (HWD). There's a charging port on the bottom panel, and a full charge using the included USB charging cable should power the base for two hours. The top is a cradle for your mobile device, which is held in place securely with rubber stoppers on either side. Romo is compatible with Apple phones back to iPhone 4, as well as the fourth-generation iPod touch and newer, and comes in either 30-pin or Lightning configurations. Aside from the connector, both models look the same. I tested the Lightning model using an iPhone 5s. There's no support for Android devices.