Sharing your glorious electronics hobby with your children has never been easier. LightUp takes a fun hands-on approach that’s akin to puzzle solving. Let’s get the truth out: Most parents dream of sharing hobbies with their offspring; it makes the otherwise boring aspects of parenting significantly more rewarding. Children themselves love making things and physically exploring the world, LightUp will feed this curiosity while simultaneously encouraging creativity and confidence. But it’s not about simply putting pieces together; LightUp includes an interactive augmented-reality tutor app to actually teach children how their projects work.
LightUp reduces complexity just enough to make electronics more inviting for the young mind. All the blocks magnetically snap together so there’s no need to solder or even use a boring-looking breadboard. Depending on the select kit, a wide variety of projects can be completed: Morse code buzzers, night lights, lunch box alarms, temperature-sensing coasters, heat activated fans, room alarms, and even spill detectors.
X-ray vision
What better way to understand the fundamentals of electronics then to see the flow of electricity in real time? Well, not exactly the actual electricity, but a representation of it and its behavior. Simply take a picture of the project, and the augmented-reality app displays the movement of current across the circuit in the picture. Each component will display its effect: swap in a larger resistor, and witness the current’s movement slow down.
This approach encourages experimentation and critical thinking on behalf of the child with immediate feedback. The LED isn’t lighting? After viewing this situation with the app, the child would see the current stall before reaching the LED. Looks like the LED block’s charges are incorrectly positioned in relation to the current, but a quick realigning resolves the issue. Nevertheless, if the child remains stuck, the interactive tutor provides encouragement in the right direction.
The interactive app visually demonstrate the effect of each component
Real Deal
Aside for a few protective circuitry, every block is a real component. Resistors are resistors, batteries are batteries. LightUp will teach kids about resistors, switches, sensors, motors, microcontrollers, LEDs, and how these all fit together to create a working project.
Arduino-compatible
LightUp uses an Arduino-compatible microcontroller block to also make hardware programming accessible to children. The microcontroller is encased in a magnetic programming wand to easily attach to projects. It can be programmed using the Arduino IDE or any visual programming environment for the Arduino too.
Visit Kickstarter to save the next generation and select your own LightUp kit.
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