About this project
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We believe art and technology are the key to creative problem solving. We know this because we integrate all the arts into our engineering work every day. But arts and crafts often becomes secondary in kits that teach technology.
Oomiyu is a maker kit that bring the "Arts" in STEAM to life. It blends arts and crafts with technology and engineering to show how they work together. We want to inspire young inventors with a broad set of talents so they can help us build the future.
And Oomiyu is just the start. We designed a robotic animal with these electronic parts this time, but we look forward to designing other creatures as well as games with these same base electronics and materials! We will build some things and we hope you will build some things too and share them with us.
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“After this you feel successful because you built it all by yourself. But if it comes in a package already built, then you just play with it and you think, well this isn’t too fun because they built it for me.” - 10 year old kid tester
Oomiyu (pronounced “umiyoo”) is a maker kit that allows beginner inventors (8 years and up) to build a fun, customized and interactive paper craft robotic owl while getting a taste of basic mechanical principles, electronics and programming based on an Arduino 101.
- Build the mechanics, electronics and paper shell for your Oomiyu owl. Oomiyu was designed to show you how all the different systems come together to create an awesome robotic creature.
“The most fun part is going to be doing the circuitry and the wires” - 11 year old kid tester
- Customize your Oomiyu owl by decorating its paper shell. We’ve included a set of accessories to get you started in bringing out your Oomiyu’s personality. And this is just the beginning. In addition, you can control, add, or change any of those behaviors with the companion app for even more fun. Show us what you've got and make Oomiyu your own!
“The app is easy to use. For people who don’t code well, it would be really easy for them to use too.” -9 year old kid testers
“My favorite part was programming it through the app”-8 year old kid tester.
- Play with your Oomiyu owl! Oomiyu comes with pre-programmed behaviors and games: ask it yes-or-no questions, pet it until it goes to sleep, or set it up as your alarm clock.
Hack it. We have built Oomiyu on top of the Arduino 101, which is powered by the Intel® Curie(TM) module, to create a flexible technology platform that can be customized with other off the shelf components and sample code. Because the Arduino 101 is part of a lively open-source community, there are many resources available to help expand what Oomiyu can do.
Oomiyu comes with everything you need to create your very own robotic owl:
- An Arduino 101 board, powered by Intel®
- Sensors: proximity, touch and buttons.
- Actuators: a speaker, 2 motors and 2 tricolor LEDS
- A shield to easily connect all sensors and actuators
- All the necessary connecting wires
(*) Please note that the sensors and actuators in the picture above are functionally representative but may not be the final pieces. We will keep you updated as we upgrade components or make any changes.
- 3 different owl cardstock bodies in pre-cut pieces ready to be assembled. (The blue one is pictured above.)
- Fun cardstock accessories such as glasses, mustaches and feathers to decorate your owl and give it its own personality (not included in the current picture but include glasses, mustaches, bow ties, mini shapes, etc.)
- Pre-cut pieces of cardboard to build the mechanical skeleton
- All necessary mechanical connecting pieces. (Not all of them are pictured here as we are still optimizing our design!)
Items that are not pictured but will be definitely included:
- Simple instructions for putting everything together
- A free companion app for your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone or tablet for control and customization of interactions. (Smartphone or tablet not included, data charges to download application may apply.)
Oomiyu has a strong crafts component, alongside state of the art electronics
It tackles the entire maker process. From the mechanical, the electronics, the outer shell, to the personality, everything is built by you.
It is built to be customized: each Oomiyu owl can be customized physically with accessories or digitally through the app: make Oomiyu purr like a cat, act grumpy, hiccup and even burp!
Oomiyu is the introduction to a powerful and extensible electronics platform we are building: the same electronics can be reused for future maker kits or other projects.
We really believe that combining the creativity in art and the power in technology allows for intuitive and powerful learning, that play leads to inspiration, curiosity and engagement.
We are a band of mad scientists, artists, inventors, storytellers, educators and performers collectively known as Two Bit Circus. Last year we were named one of the Top Startups to Watch in Los Angeles.
We build big games, tell stories with technology, and make liberal use of lasers, fire and robots. We live at the intersection of technology and spectacle, engineering entertainment that is imaginative and interactive.
In 2013, we successfully crowdfunded our first STEAM Carnival on Kickstarter, re-imagining the circus to include a high-tech game arcade, battling robot band showcase, and wearable technology fashion show to highlight STEAM disciplines at work within the power of play. STEAM Carnivals have been held in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas.
Check out some highlights from the Carnival in Los Angeles:
Risks and challenges
Our team has worked tirelessly to design and prototype Oomiyu. We are confident in the design, and ready to work through the challenges that might arise while working with suppliers, manufacturing, production, and certification.
We have carefully specified our bill of materials and received quotes from different potential manufacturing partners. Some of them have replaced our original parts with equivalent components. As we test all these configurations, we may need to adjust our design or seek new manufacturing partners.
We have created a shield that simplifies the electrical connections in Oomiyu. Any delays in the manufacturing or testing of this shield could cause a delay in fulfillment.
We have worked hard to test our chosen materials, but our maker kit must pass standard safety testing and certification. A delay in certification that would require us to use alternate materials like plastic instead of cardboard could cause a significant delay in fulfillment.
We are an experienced team of inventors with a history of producing successful, high-tech products. We are confident in our process and approach to new products. In the event that unexpected issues arise, we promise to do our best to minimize the impact on our supporters. We are looking forward to bringing Oomiyu into your home and will keep you informed of our progress with regular updates.
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Funding period
- (30 days)