Expanding toy platform

Sony is focusing on developing educational toys as well as gadgets. The educational toy platform toio has just been released in March this year, but already has several expansion packs and offers children various ways to play.

Originally this was a toy product born from Sony's in-house entrepreneurship support project, and the prototype was released on crowdfunding. Then they renewed its hardware and developed a general consumer version. It consists of a small block robot called a toio cube, a console that contains software, and two ring-shaped controllers. It may look like a game console, or you may also think of this as a radio controlled robot. But that's just one of the elements. First of all, children can learn programming to move robots using physical cards called instruction cards. To make a toio cube remember a program, simply place it on the instruction card. It's easy, but children can do complex programming with a combination of cards. A picture book is included in the programming kit using toio cube, and children can learn the basics of programming while reading this, combine instruction cards, and move the toio cube according to the situation of the picture book. If children get used to programming with physical cards, they can learn visual programming languages and more advanced programming from their PCs and run toio cube. If they get tired of playing toio cube only move, the various expansion kits allow children to control complex games themselves. The list price is 18,678 yen (tax included), and it is already sold at major mail-order sites and consumer electronics mass retailers, but depending on the shops you may be able to buy it cheaper.

Let's enjoy DIY and programming together!

2020 Japanese elementary school is busy. Because programming classes are also required. Takara Tomy released a robot toy embot, that adding elements of programming learning to DIY art.

This is a programming education robot born from NTT DOCOMO's new business creation program. It's a seemingly simple cardboard robot, but it has core parts, buzzers, LED lights, and servo motors, and children can assemble robots that work by combining them. In addition, they can learn programming with an application that link with this, and move the robot accordingly. This programming language is a visual programming language that children can easily understand. It doesn't matter if your children don't have their own PC. The application can be used only on a smartphone or tablet. And, because it is a cardboard that is an exterior of the robot, children can enjoy custom by painting or adding decorations to it. The target age is over 8 years old, and the power source of the robot is 4 AAA alkaline batteries. The price is 6600 yen (tax included) and the application is free to download.

Learn English with dance and AR

In 2020, English classes will be required in the upper grades of Japanese elementary schools. So Sega Toys has developed a learning toy Wonderful Channel that allows children to learn English while dancing in front of a monitor.

The main body of this is a dog-shaped camera, when you connect it to a home TV monitor, displays the children on the screen. It also has a motion sensor and an AR function, which adds various images to the children's motion. The video content is learn English words while dancing, and children can learn English happily with the dance. Furthermore, they can transform into animals or fairy tale characters by AR. It will be an experience as they were in the fairy tale world. Any number of people that can fit on the monitor screen can be recognized by the motion sensor, so parents and children can play together. It has more than 60 types of content, and you can choose the right content from 5 steps tailored to your children's age and learning stage. The target age is over 3 years old. The size is 95mm x 95mm x 100mm and has accessories such as a remote control, stand and HDMI cable. Batteries are required for the main unit and remote control(Body: 3 AA batteries, Remote control: 2 AAA batteries). The price is 14,300 yen (including tax), and you can purchase it at major mail order sites and consumer electronics mass retailers.

Compact but powerful

In October, typhoons and heavy rains attacked various parts of Japan, and the affected local governments are still focusing on reconstruction. This gadget can be useful in such emergencies and disasters.

PowerArQ is a small-sized portable power supply smaller than the cooler box, but it is very powerful. With a lithium-Ion battery capacity of 174,000mAh / 626Wh, you can even use electric under- blankets overnight. This battery has a large capacity, but it takes 8-10 hours to charge. It supports USB, cigar sockets and common outlets, so you can connect it to various gadgets. If you connect this to a optional solar panel, you can store electricity for free. In addition, This support pass-through charging and can be powered while charging. For example, when you use this while camping outdoors, you can connect the solar panel to this and use some gadgets while charging. Of course, this will be of great help when a disaster causes a major power outage. The size is 300 x 242 x 193mm and weigh is 6kg. The voltage is 3.6V and can be charged more than 300 times. The price is expensive at 66,000 yen(including tax), but it is enough specs to prepare for emergencies and this has already sold 20,000 units.

In addition, this has six kinds of color variations and won the Good Design Award 2019 for pop design.

Does not turn off even if a power failure occurs

USB-LED01 is an LED sensor light for wall outlet that has a motion sensor. However, the feature is that it will not turn off even if a power failure occurs. You can easily set it by simply plugging it into an outlet, which will always charge by outlet and will not run out of batteries. In addition, automatically turns on and off by motion sensor, so you do not need to operate the switch. The light can be removed from the charging holder and you can use it as a flashlight in case of emergency such as disasters.

When a power failure occurs with this plugged in, the light will automatically turn on, so you can immediately see the surroundings even during a sudden power failure. When used as a flashlight or emergency light, the high-intensity light of up to 140 lumens will allow you to deal with power outages quickly. This lithium-ion battery has a capacity of 500mAh and power consumption of about 1.0W. The charging time is about 32-50 hours, and it can be used continuously for about 3 hours. The size is 65 x 16 x 148mm and weigh is 99g. The price is 4,620 yen (including tax) .