Ever wanted to build an R2-D2 to call your own?
You could drop a few million dollars to get all the screen-used parts/props… Or you could spend a few weeks in the shop bangin’ on scrap metal to build one from scratch. Or you could grab littleBit’s new Droid Inventor Kit and call it a day. It’s pint-sized and not quite as intense as the aforementioned options, but hey — it’s your R2 . Unfamiliar with littleBits? It was founded back in 2011, and focuses on introducing kids to electronics and circuitry by way of modular components that snap together. Want to build a little Taboo-style buzzing button? Grab a battery module, a button module and a speaker module, stick their magnetic ends together and you’re set — no soldering (and thus no soldering iron burns) required.
This Droid Inventor Kit is a pretty sweet concept: one $99 box containing all the motors, speakers, stickers, sensors and Droid body parts you’d need to recreate a bleeping, blorping, rolling R2-D2 of your own. Want to mix things up a bit? You can do that, too: A companion iOS/Android app gives you the step-by-step breakdown of how to piece things together, along with a series of missions meant to encourage kids to tweak their Droid to their liking. That one above, for example, has a little paper “drill” that spins as it rolls around the room.
This kit should start shipping by September 1st. This is a pretty huge partnership for littleBits; they joined Disney’s startup accelerator last year, and this is the first new product to hit the shelves as a result. Check it out at around the 2 minute mark in the video below.
