Prevention of minor accidents

Someone is behind the door and collides with him/her the moment you open the door ... it's a minor accident in everyday life, but we want to avoid it as much as possible. So, an office supplies company King Jim has released a wireless type of light with a motion sensor that lets you know when someone is on the other side of the door and prevents collisions. The price is 15,400 yen (tax included).

It's a set of two, and when you mount the door with these, the sensors detect people in front of the door and let you know by flashing lights and a buzzer. The ranges covered by the sensors are about 120 degrees horizontally and about 110 degrees vertically. You can choose the buzzer volume from three levels.


Originally King Jim has been selling this wired version since June 2017, and has now released this wireless type. You can fix these to the door with the magnets on the main body, screws, and double-sided tape. Also, you can use them in single mode instead of in pairs. For example, if you fix them at dangerous places, you can alert people passing nearby. Each of these size is 140mm x 75mm x 105mm and weighs about 300g (excluding batteries). They work on four AA alkaline batteries for about two years. (When the sensor detects 30 times a day)

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.