Some Arizona State University engineering students have proved that really fun toys can lead to business opportunities.
The students developed a robotic toy car –called Cosmo – that is now part of a business startup known as Infinibotics. The car will be used to help preschoolers learn about math and spelling.
Various games were programmed in the robot’s software. The students used image-processing algorithms to design the robotic toy. As an added plus, the students got some money from the university’s venture catalyst program, called the “Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative.” The students will also get mentoring help and office space in the upcoming school year.
The students are: Edward Andert, Roger Dolan, Shang Wang, Bryce Holton, and Austin Deveny. The faculty adviser is Aviral Shrivastava.
The response to the toy robot has been great. The university said it was shown at ASU’s annual Engineering Open House and “children were loving the toy,” Andert said in a university statement.
Then, Shrivastava’s 5-year-old daughter, Lehka, asked if she could make the toy to stop and asked if it could be used for spelling games, the university said.
Her comments and those from other people got the students thinking. They improved the robotic toy to do more things. Now, the software lets it respond to voice commands including: “Cosmo, follow” and “Cosmo, stop.”
Next, the students want to add more interactive features, such as having it be able to play hide-and-seek or treasure-hunt as a way to teach math and spelling.
There are more challenges that are ahead for the student entrepreneurs.
“It will require a lot more engineering on our part,” Andert said in a university statement. “And that will probably take the better part of the next year.”
Later comes manufacturing and marketing the toy in the marketplace. These are also major challenges.
But everyone seems to enjoy the project.
