Anish Mampetta was a new dad and wanted to make sure his child had engaging toys. He knew that kids spend up to four hours a day on their smart devices, and current toys didn't have the ability to hold the attention of children. Anish, Wayne Keenan and Savi Pavithrasagar founded Cannybots, a robotic car racing platform that combines building, programming and 3D printing. Cannybots is running a very successful campaign on Kickstarter than ends November 12, 2015.
Cannybots run on two wheels using tracks that users can print for racing, a sumo track where cars try to push each other out of a ring, or a set of mazes for puzzle play. Two light sensors and a color sensor on the bottom of the cars use a line follower program to race, and kids can built their own tracks with black electrical tape.
Two different apps are currently in use for controlling the Cannybots. The CannyTalk app is a text based artificial intelligence engine developed with scientists at the Computer Science Department at the University of Cambridge. The Navigation app is intended for younger users and has four buttons showing direction and controls time, speed and motion. Raspberry Pi can also be used to program and control the robots. An educator in Germany has developed a mod that allows students to control the Cannybots using Minecraft blocks.
Anish told me that the biggest design decision for Cannybots was finding the right mix between visual aesthetics and easy assembly. Limiting the number of screws was important and a press fit between the chassis and the outer shell made assembly easy for kids while still giving a solid fit. Forward looking sensors were dropped from this initial release to keep the bots easy to assemble and program, but will be available with other add on sensors soon. The Cannybot board specifications and pinout diagrams are up on the company's website. Choosing motors and battery for the bots was a long decision process. The team wanted the battery to have at least one hour of continuous play so decided on a 1100 milliAmp hour lithium ion battery. This required an upgrade to high efficiency motors to reduce power consumption and a metal gear box for more precise control.
Cannybots look like a great educational platform and it's encouraging to see them offering racing and non-racing options for play. Hopefully this variety, along with the ability to 3D print custom shells this will keep kids (and adults who enjoy racing and robotics) engaged for a long time.