Press Kit

Short Story.

Little Robot Friends are cute, expressive robot characters that make learning electronics and code both fun and rewarding. Made out of a circuit board and simple electrical components, the robots have multiple sensory receptors: they can sense light, hear sound, receive touch, and detect movement. They can talk or sing in their own language and express their moods through their RGB LED eyes. They can communicate wirelessly to each other, and to smart devices. And best of all, they are completely programmable.

Spikey, Curvy, and Ghosty are the original Little Robot Friends that have been upgraded to have a more powerful processor, more sensors, a rechargeable battery pack, and Bluetooth for wireless communication. These robots come ready to play or as a DIY Kit for those looking to hone their soldering skills.

Crafty, our new addition to the family, is a character creator kit that lets you make your own Little Robot Friend! The kit comes with reusable modular electronic components and a bundle of alligator clips so you can arrange the electronics however you please on a robot body of your choice.

We've also created an all new Little Robot Friends App (available for Android, iOS, and Chrome), that can customize the robots without any coding. With the LRF App you can give your robot a name, change its personality, create new expressions, teach it new songs and tricks and even play games!

Additionally, Little Robot Friends are compatible with the most popular educational platforms for learning hardware and code—Arduino and Blockly (similar to Scratch). We've made it simple to write and upload custom programs to your Little Robot Friend using the built-in USB port. Our Arduino library is written from the ground up, with great examples to quickly get you started. Our step-by-step tutorials will show you how to take control of all the robot’s parts: changing eye colors, making sounds, reading sensors, and sending messages to your computer or other robots.

This is the second iteration of the Little Robot Friends by Aesthetec Studio. The original version of Little Robot Friends raised more than $120,000 on Kickstarter in 2013, since then we have been receiving feedbacks and feature requests from enthusiastic robot makers across the globe. We started working on the redesign and upgrade in early 2015 and are almost ready for production. Check out our current campaign on Kickstarter.

Long Format.

Technology Press Release, April 2016

Education Press Release, April 2016

Images.

Download from Flickr

Videos.

View Kickstarter Video on our Campaign Page

Fun Facts.

• Robots made and sold to date:

  5,000+

• Countries sold to:

  34

• Headquarter office:

  Toronto, Canada

• Number of robot makers:

  6 + help from friends when needed

• Maker Faire Appearance:

  Bay Area 2014, New York 2014, Bay Area 2015, New York 2015 + mini Maker Faires in Toronto!

Questions & Answers.

• Who are Aesthetec Studio?

  We are a small studio based in Toronto, Canada that develops custom interactive objects and experiences. From concept and design to final fabrication, we make electronics, software and installations for events and institutions, large and small. Our team comes from artistic backgrounds with a passion for engineering (or vice versa) and it shows in the things we create. More information about Aesthetec Studio can be found at www.aesthetec.net.

• What are Little Robot Friends?

  Little Robot Friends (or LRFs) are small, programmable robot characters that help people to learn coding and electronics. The four LRF models - Spikey, Curvy, Ghosty and Crafty - are built of simple electronic elements which double as their features. Each robot contains inputs (light, sound, touch, movement, Bluetooth) and outputs (sound, light, Bluetooth) that provide the potential for multiple interactions. Little Robot Friends can be programmed using visually or text-based languages by connecting them to a computer, or using our new Little Robot Friends App (available for Android, iOS, and Chrome).

  Spike, Curvy and Ghosty are available as ready-to-play robots or easy-to-solder DIY kits. Crafty is available exclusively as a DIY kit with re-usable LEDs, speaker, light and sound sensors - no soldering required!. Tabs on the robot’s body and the sensor modules allow them to be connected with a variety of conductive materials. The tabs also allow the elements to be attached to common materials like fabric or cardboard so that you can make a custom LRF with anything your heart desires. Crafty comes with a bundle of 20 alligator clips to allow for immediate experimentation.

• What can I do with them?

  We created Little Robot Friends to be a fun way for anyone to explore creative technology through making, playing and learning.

  Creative and technological minds alike will be drawn to Crafty kits, which lets them turn their world into a Little Robot Friend without struggling with breadboards or complicated schematics. If you like soldering, our DIY Robot kits contain easy-to-use through-hole components that are perfect for beginners and experts alike.

  Playing with their multiple sensory receptors brings the robots to life. Right out of the box, they can sense light, hear sound, receive touch, and detect movement. LRFs can talk or sing to you in their own language and express their moods through their RGB LED eyes. Bluetooth enables robot-to-robot communication so LRFs can play, chat and sing together. The same technology allows for wireless connection to a tablet so you can customize your LRF using the Little Robot Friends App. The App (available for Android, iOS and Chrome) lets you name your robot, change its personality and create new expressions using an intuitive graphical interface.

  Little Robot Friends capabilities expand even further as a companion to learning code. LRFs are compatible with the most popular educational platforms for learning hardware and code - Arduino and Blockly (similar to Scratch). The new LRF Arduino library is written from the ground up, with great examples to quickly get you started. Step-by-step tutorials describe how to take control of the robot’s features in order to change its eye color, make sounds, read its sensors and send messages to computers or other robots.

• Where did they come from?

  The original idea for Little Robot Friends came from an art installation called Nicebots created for a museum in France. This project involved building 30 robots that started out with identical movements and personalities. Over the course of the exhibition, the robots were programmed to develop their own distinct traits and become individual characters.

  Fast forward to 2013 when the first version of Little Robot Friends was launched on Kickstarter. The campaign was an incredible success, raising over $120,000 (nearly three times the goal) from many generous backers and garnering widespread media attention. As a result, over 3,000 robots were hand-assembled and shipped to over 30 countries. We also had the chance to meet with some of our LRF friends (and make some new ones) at events both at home (Toronto Mini Maker-faire, Maker Festival, Google Geek Street) and away (World Maker Faires in California and New York).

  It was such a treat for us to see people engaging so enthusiastically with LRFs, and it inspired us to make something better. So for more than a year we’ve been developing this new version of Little Robot Friends. Our new Spikey, Curvy and Ghosty models are packed with software and hardware improvements, our App helps bridge the gap between play and learning, and Crafty opens the LRF Family to characters of your imaginations. We hope you love them as much as we do!

• Is this a toy?

  Yes and no. The principal consideration when designing Little Robot Friends was for them to be fun, friendly and approachable. We want them to be your little companions, and to provide a great experience “out-of-the-box”. However, they do much more than entertain. The design doesn’t hide

  While children explore LRFs features they’ll be observing the fundamentals of basic electronics. As they experiment with creating their own custom robots with Crafty they’ll be picking up knowledge about Making. When they program Little Robot Friends to interact with their environment, kids will begin to learn computational thinking.

  We believe that playing and learning are two sides of the same coin. So while Little Robot Friends can be toy, it’s also a tool for children to use in their exploration and understanding of the world.

• Who is Little Robot Friends for?

  The main audience for Little Robot Friends is children ages 8 and up. LRFs were designed as a low-barrier introduction to computer literacy and electronics. These skills are becoming critical for living and working in our modern world. We hope that educators and instructors will embrace Little Robot Friends as a way to build their students confidence and empower them in their role as creators of technology.

  While we may have built LRFs with children in mind, they are loved and enjoyed by folks of all ages and stages, and can build skills for novices and experts alike. All you need is a bit of curiosity and a desire to learn!

• What are Little Robot Friends made of?

  Don’t be fooled by their small size! Here is a list of all that we have packed into the Little Robot Friends:

  • Atmel SAMD21G processor running at 48Mhz
  • Bluetooth LE 4.0
  • 3x capacitive-touch channels
  • 2x 10-mm RGB LEDs
  • 1/4W speaker
  • Electret microphone
  • Cds photocell sensor
  • Triple-axis accelerometer
  • Rechargeable 350mA lithium-polymer battery
  • Micro-USB connector


  Crafty comes with all these features plus enough alligator clips to attach all components (RGB LEDs, speaker, microphone and light sensor) via conductive contact pads.

• What is the Little Robot Friends App?

  The Little Robot Friends App allows you to customize your LRF using your smartphone or tablet. The app uses sliders, buttons and other intuitive drag-and-drop elements - mo coding is required! With the App, you can give your robot a name, change its personality, create new expressions, teach it new songs and tricks and even play games! Wirelessly connect multiple robots together and discover even more fun stuff. Plus, it’s free!

• What do I need to build a LRF DIY Kit?

  DIY Kits can be built by soldering the components in the kits to the LRF body. To do this, you’ll need a soldering iron, an exhaust fan, and some fine lead-free solder. DIY Kits are appropriate for people with all levels of soldering experience, but we recommend doing some reading about soldering technique before you assemble your kit.

• What do I need to program an LRF?

  Little Robot Friends can be programmed on two different platforms: Blockly and Arduino. Blockly is a visual programming language that simplifies the process of learning to code by using colourful drag and drop blocks. The blocks can be arranged together to create and programs. Visual programming doesn’t require any typing or knowledge of programming syntax, which makes it perfect for beginners.

  Arduino is a text-based language that is based on C/C++. The Arduino software was designed to be used by people without an engineering background who wanted to create, experiment and prototype with programming and electronics. Both platforms are free to download and open-source, so they come with a huge community of helpful supporters to guide you on your coding journey.

• How much does it cost?

  Our Kickstarter pricing offers a decent discount over what will be the LRF retail price. Early bird Kickstarter backers will be able to purchase robots for as little as $60 for a ready-to-play model, and once those are gone it will be $65 for a DIY kit, $70 for a ready-to-play and $80 for a Crafty kit. Backers will also have access to a variety of robot pairs and combos available only during our Kickstarter campaign.

  After Kickstarter, Spikey, Curvy or Ghosty will retail for $79.95 for ready-to-play robots or $74.95 for a DIY Kit. A Crafty kit will cost $89.95.

• Where can I buy Little Robot Friends?

  Little Robot Friends are available as a reward on our Kickstarter page(insert link). Once our campaign is finished, robots will then be available for pre-order through our website littlerobotfriends.com.

• When will Little Robot Friends be available?

  Our production timeline has shipping beginning mid-September 2016. As with all hardware projects, there is a risk that this date may get pushed back due to production or manufacturing delays. We’ve built ourselves a 6-week window in order to compensate for any major hiccups, so the absolute latest we will ship is early November 2016.

• What are Little Robot Friends compatible with?

  All Little Robot Friends bases contain a micro-USB connector and are Bluetooth LE 4.0 enabled. This allows the base to be connected to a computer or laptop via USB and for syncing with tablets or smartphones. Once your robot is connected to a device, it can be programmed to your hearts content.

• What about the original Little Robot Friends?

  The new Little Robot Friends have several key features that differentiate them from their original designs. Unfortunately we’ve had to drop a couple things we loved about the original Little Robot Friends design to allow for all the new features. Design is all about compromise and we’ve been labouring over the details for more than a year to deliver a Little Robot Friend design that is smarter, more interactive and widely accessible.

  For those of you who have an original Little Robot Friend - fear not. Once we launch and work out the bugs of the new codebase, we’re going to start implementing features from the new Little Robot Friends code back to our original series. Of course, some parts of the code will not be portable due to the differences in hardware - but we’re going to prepare some ‘Original LRF Hacks’ so you can add new functionality to your original robot.

Contact

For press inquiries: hello@littlerobotfriends.com

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