Lego meets the digital age with these robots
A robotic toy comprised of electronic cubes, Robo hopes to be the Lego of the digital age, allowing children or rookie coders to build functioning, programmable robots with interchangeable parts commanded by a Robo app. With the Robo app, the right blocks and a rainy afternoon, you could – according to the Kickstarter page – have a three-wheeled robot nosing around the room, obeying commands and announcing the weather forecast. Assuming the Kickstarter crowdfunding is successful, a fairly primitive Robo starter kit will cost £85 and arrive through your door next summer. As a nod to its forebear, the Robo is also “Lego-compatible”, meaning you can artistically bedeck your creation with retro bricks.
Brighten up life with your very own shining moon
“I’ll give you the moon, Mary,” promised Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life. Thanks to this Taiwanese Indiegogo campaign, he can be true to his word this Christmas by buying Mary one of these luminous fibreglass balls. Acorn Studio in Taipei has raised nearly half a million dollars to fund Luna, which ranges in diameter from 3.2in to 23.6in. But while the moon itself is free, even the smallest Luna lamp costs around £50.
A miniature modular phone for the curious
For those who can’t wait for Google’s modular phone, this plucky little alternative has already won its Kickstarter funding three times over, and will appeal to more curious and hobbyist users. A tiny microcontroller forms the Rephone’s core, which can be manually connected to a number of separate units – a touchscreen, for instance, or an accelerometer – to suit the user’s needs. Costing £26 (for the 3G version) the phone comes with a fold-your-own cardboard case, but customers are encouraged to build their own.
Be on track with these hand-controlled racers
The UK’s car industry is said to be in resurgence, as this impressive and powerful vehicle demonstrates. A hi-tech take on Scalextrics, and open for funding on Kickstarter, Cannybots is a miniature, hand-controlled racing car, which can be assembled, decorated and programmed to suit the whims of its driver. Governed by an app, the car detects road-markings, clinging to the track and responding to coloured signals to change lanes, adjust speed and record lap times. Ambitious racers can even custom-build a track with nothing but black electrical tape, while the app claims to provide a simple introduction to coding languages. Order now and you can have one by Christmas.
A laser shaver that is absolutely cutting edge
This expensive and threatening-looking depilatory tool may seem a drastic purchase, but its designers are confident that at £105 it represents a preferable alternative to the razor. The Skarp’s cutting edge has a tiny, low-energy laser which emits light that is absorbed by pigments in human hair, heating each strand and breaking it off without nicks, rashes or excess waste. “Shaving has been the same for 5,000 years,” says their Kickstarter page, probably rather inaccurately. Still, if you’re sick of hacking away at your chin or legs with a brittle plastic disposable, the Skarp could be for you.
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