Here’s another interesting Kickstarter project that we came across that has a really good social element to it. It’s a small computer for kids that they will need to build it themselves.
The Kano Computer Kit started off as a challenge from the 6 year old nephew of one of the two founders. The boy had two rules:
- It has to be as simple and fun as Lego.
- No one teaches me how to do it.
The founders got started on the project in 2012 (right after the challenge) and by April 2013, the founders had made 200 kits in their flat. Every single one of the prototype kits were sold out by August that year and this was achieved only through word of mouth. From October – November, a bigger team got together and redesigned the kit that we see today. In November 2013, the team launched their Kickstarter campaign and surpassed their US$100k target within 18 hours. At the end of their campaign on 20th of December, the project had received more than US$1.5 million worth of pledges.
The Kano kit comes with 11 different items but at the heart of all this is the Raspberry Pi (Type B) computer. See image below for the list of items included:
Apart from building the computer on their own, the Kano team also wanted kids to learn programming. They wanted their product to be visually engaging and at the same time, teach the kids something useful. The team has added games and activities that kids can learn to change and manipulate by just playing around with codes. The software combines Kano OS, a distro based on Debian Linux, with an interface that looks and feels like a console game. Kids can connect blocks, that generates output in Python or Java, and that becomes a code that can be used to update or modify games in real time. The team has also included learning software such as Scratch, Codecademy and Hacking Fundamental.
The Kano name itself was derived from Kanō Jigorō, the founder of Judo. He was a lifelong schoolteacher and the Kano team wanted to embody that into their product. Kano was made for everyone and as such, the book found in the kit is available in English, Spanish, Arabic or Mandarin.
Click to view slideshow.Kano is a great project and it is interesting to see how far it will go. I believe that getting kids to want to discover and learn things on their own is the best way for them to grow; not through forced participation and/or examination.
The Kano kit is available now for pre-order with the products expected to ship in July this year. The kit itself is priced at US$129.00 (~ RM414) and another US$23 (~RM74) for shipping, worldwide.
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