Startup seeks $55k on crowdfunding website Kickstarter for its programmable microcontroller toy that aims to get kids coding

In 2015, there is no shortage of technology startups encouraging children to tinker with hardware and/or learn programming skills. The list of firms doing that using drinking straws, however, is considerably shorter.

Quirkbot is certainly on that list: the Swedish startup has launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to raise at least $55k to launch what it’s describing as “a hackable toy for all ages”.

Its product, which the company plans to start selling in August, is a microcontroller that can be connected to construction toy Strawbees as well as LEDs and motors – and, yes, drinking straws – and programmed via a USB connection to trigger motion, lights and sounds.

“With Quirkbot you can build quirky robots, blinking outfits and weird sounding creatures using regular drinking straws and a little bit of imagination,” explains the company’s Kickstarter campaign, which raised more than $16k in its first day after launching.

Quirkbot hopes children will build their own robots using the device, but also sees it being used as a controller for games and applications running on computers and tablets.

The product was born out of a series of Kids Hack Day events, initially in Sweden and later elsewhere in the world. An initial device combining an Arduino microcontroller board with an “old Christmas toy” was later turned into a full prototype with the help of Strawbees and Swedish agency Ideofon.

Quirkbot hopes the final product will encourage children to explore coding, with the company having developed its own visual programming interface that runs on its website, where children can also share the projects that they create.

The company is charging $55 for the basic Quirkbot product through Kickstarter, although people can spend more to get Strawbees kits included. Developers can pay $109 or $149 for the developer and “hacker heaven” kits with more parts, while schools, science centres and other organisations can pledge $999 for workshop kits.

Quirkbot is not the first startup to use crowdfunding to raise money for a hardware project aiming to get children programming.

British startup Kano raised $1.5m on Kickstarter in 2013 for its build-it-yourself computer, which recently went on sale. US firm Play-i took more than $1.4m of preorders for its Bo and Yana programmable robots in 2013 too.

• ‘Great big poo balls!’ What it’s like making a Kano with your kids



• Seven kids coding projects that crowdfunded their first steps

