Elenco, maker of Snap Circuits® toys, unveils Teach Tech™ brand with coding, robotic, and green-energy kits

Wheeling, Illinois (February 14, 2019) – Elenco, the maker of the award-winning Snap Circuits® products, announces a new line of educational toys under the brand name TEACH TECH™, with a focus on hands-on, building fun. The first offerings within the TEACH TECH™ line feature robotic kits, including products that explore renewable energy and coding. Following the Learn by doing® philosophy found in all Elenco products, TEACH TECH™ enhances play quality with an emphasis on Do-It-Yourself building to boost confidence and critical thinking skills. Products within this line will appeal to all who enjoy using their hands to build and tinker and then bring their creations to life with movement, coding and programming. Future-minded kids can also investigate alternative power sources with kits that highlight solar, hydraulic, wind, or air power.

TEACH TECH™ unveils two innovative, coding robot kits at New York Toy Fair, as well as other electronic and alternative energy kits:

  • Tobbie II Kids can build a robot, then code and program with MakeCode or Phython Editor. With 6 legs and a fully-rotational body, Tobbie includes motor, infrared sensors, buzzers, and BBC Micro:bit.  Bluetooth-controlled and user-friendly.  DIY and Coding in one kit!
  • Mech-5! Truly innovative- screenless coding. A mission-based STEM coding robot with a mechanical coding wheel, instead of a computer. Mech-5 is “unplugged” – a new concept of coding without a computer or app. Just snap coding buttons onto the coding wheel to initiate movement such as forward, backward, turn, spin, or pause. Screenless coding

Elenco will officially introduce the TEACH TECH™ brand and unveil Tobbie II and Mech-5 at this year’s New York Toy Fair, with demonstrations of TEACH TECH’s green energy and other mechanical-robotic kits within the line. TEACH TECH™ will be available in all Elenco’s retail channels, including specialty stores, larger retailers, and online retailers. The official product launches for Tobbie II and Mech-5 are slated for Summer 2019.

New in Snap Circuits®

  • Green Energy! In line with the focus on renewable energy evident in the Teach Tech™ line, Elenco also introduces Snap Circuits® GREEN ENERGY – a reboot of the popular Snap Circuits® GREEN – updated with new parts and content for today’s exploration into alternative energy concepts, including electric cars, windmills, and hand-generated power.  Perfect for environmentalists and future engineers!
  • Toy Of The Year! SNAP CIRCUITS® BRIC: Structures, released in 2018, is a Toy Of The Year Finalist! BRIC combines SNAP CIRCUITS® with ordinary building bricks to make endless combinations of construction and circuitry. Winner of KAPi BEST EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT award at the Consumer Electronics Show, ASTRA Best Toys For Kids, and the inaugural recipient of the Seriously STEM award.
  • STEM-Approved! Elenco is proud to announce that their award-winning SNAP CIRCUITS® line of educational products and toys has earned the STEM APPROVED Trustmark from STEM.org.  In addition, Elenco has partnered with STEM.org for the upcoming SNAP CIRCUITS® GREEN ENERGY kit. STEM.org’s mission is to make quality STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education accessible to all.  For more than 15 years, STEM.org has been at the forefront of the global, Pre-K – 12th grade STEM education movement.

About Elenco: Family owned and operated for over 45 years, Elenco has provided educational/STEM products, along with hobby and test equipment to consumers and schools. Elenco’s award-winning SNAP CIRCUITS® products teach kids to have fun learning electricity, engineering, circuitry and more.  The award-winning SNAP CIRCUITS® brand has been endorsed by educators globally and used in schools, libraries, museums, after-school and homeschool programs, STEM and Maker programs, and at home. Elenco WEmake™ line includes educational, D.I.Y kits and tools that teach soldering and other basic electronics concepts and skills. Elenco is also the North American partner for world-renowned toy brands including Engino Construction and Edu-Toys Science Kits, and more.  Broadly distributed through a wide-range of retail channels, Elenco products can be found wherever fun, innovative, science-based activities are sold.

Our Mission: Our mission is to provide quality, innovative toys and educational products that are fun, affordable, engaging, and designed to instill a passion for learning and creating. We’re committed to inspiring imagination, invention, and exploration. We believe the best way to learn is by doing.

Visit www.elenco.com for more information

Low Cost Walking Robot Makes It Easy To Get Into Robotics

The mePed is a robot kit that was designed from the ground up to be an affordable, easy to build robot for beginners and experts alike.

Spierce Technologies announced today that it is raising funds via a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to finish development and drive down the cost of their flagship walking robot, the mePed. The company has set out to raise at least $5,000 to fund the first batch of mePed kits and give them enough orders to negotiate better pricing and make the kits more affordable for everyone.

The mePed is a four legged quadruped robot that comes in kit form which the user assembles using the included tools. Out of the box, it’s not much more than just a remote control toy but what make the mePed robot special is that it is completely open source and programmable. The source code used to make the mePed work is pre-programmed on the robots controller from the factory. This code can be modified by the user to make the robot do almost anything from navigating mazes, avoiding obstacles, dancing, waving, or even finding a fire and putting it out with the use of additional sensors.

Making low cost, high quality robot kits accessible to as many people as possible is the driving force behind the mePed Kickstarter campaign. When most walking robots cost upwards of $200 or more, with a successful Kickstarter campaign, Spierce Technologies can bring the mePed to market for less than $100.

The mePed kit includes everything needed to assemble a fully functioning, programmable robot. In addition to the robot body and servo motors, the kit include an Infrared Remote for giving the robot commands, an Ultrasonic Range Sensor for measuring the distance from objects in front of the robot, an Arduino compatible micro controller or the brains of the mePed, as well as the nuts, bolts, and wrenches needed to assemble the kit. The user only needs to supply 4 AA batteries.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1881661007/meped-the-mini- quadruped-mobile-robot