Like Lego's Mindstorms and WeDo, the Koov project aims to help kids develop "21st Century Skills" like creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum areas. Experiential projects like these help children learn the processes behind things like building robots so they can learn while they interact with physical and digital systems.

The Indigogo kits — which come in variously-sized packages — come with colored blocks in seven different shapes, along with cool sensors and actuators like an accelerometer, infrared sensor, push switches, LEDs, motors and more. Kids will use the Koov app on iPad, Windows or Mac to manage the whole process. Once kids have learned how to build robots and code in fun behaviors, they can share them in a secure social space. The little coders can check out other robots and download the code, enabling them to remix ideas, which will extend the learning even more. According to Sony, there are already thousands of people sharing and remaking robot recipes in Japan and China.