Programmable bricks teach children the basics of robotics

After a successful Kickstarter back in 2015, Austrian startup Robo Wunderkind is getting ready to release its robot building kit this August.

Robo Wunderkind is a new kind of toy that lets its users build a robot completely as they want using module bricks. It’s designed to get children from five upwards thinking as engineers and coders, and it looks like a lot of fun.

The company raised over USD 246,000 back in 2015 using Kickstarter, then another USD 500,000 in 2016 from a round of investment – giving it the capital to move forward with its product that it’s aiming to have delivered by August this year. The Robo Wunderkind kits are made from a variety of modules, blocks that have their own specific function and can be clicked together to make whatever robot the user desires. Kids can fit the motors, servos, sensors, cameras and even motion detectors together then control their robot creation using the Robo Play app (iOS and Android) which connects to the robot using either wifi or bluetooth. The blocks are also compatible with traditional Lego – which gives users almost endless creative scope.

There are three kits available to pre-order – Starter (USD 199), Advanced (USD 349) and Professional (USD 699), each kit having progressively more components allowing the creation of bigger and more sophisticated robots. Teaching kids about engineering and coding is a big thing these days, something the recent Japanese Kumiita does for a slightly younger audience. And in China, the Airblock is a completely programmable drone for youngsters eight upwards. Is it possible one day everyone will be able to code and engineer?