Mover: fun and learning with DIY wearable

Technology is fun and learning boxed together. This is precisely that Technology Will Save Us, a UK-based startup wants to teach kids. The company that makes hardware kits for children to assemble into basic devices has now unveiled its first "DIY wearable," the Mover.

When fully assembled, the Mover looks like a bicycle bell made out of plastic. Inside, there’s a pair of circuit boards with components including an accelerometer and magnetometer. Underneath the transparent housing, there’s a ring of LEDs that light up in a rainbow of colors.

The idea is to unleash kids’ creativity when they take these basic elements and mix them together to create their own uses for the Mover. "It becomes part of how they express themselves," says Aaron Johnston, TWSU head of product. "It comes with attachments, like a snap-band and a lanyard. You’ll be able to put it on your bike, on your dog, or your backpack. And by putting it in a new context, it’ll have a new meaning."

Though the Mover is programmed using TWSU’s block-based programming language but to make things still easier for children to grasp TWSU has an online portal for tutorials and challenges. The site Make was launched two months ago and is run in partnership with the BBC, incorporating the broadcaster’s programmable microcomputer, the Micro Bit, which TWSU designed.

"Our challenge one week might be to celebrate the Olympics," says TWSU CEO and co-founder Bethany Koby. "Or — my favorite — to write your name in lights." She adds that the primary goal for the Mover is to encourage children to discover things on their own, but obviously it doesn’t hurt to suggest a few places to start. "We think kids are best when they’re playing and inventing," Kobyadds.

Though the company is upbeat about the technology, there are obvious doubts regarding its liking with kids. The design, for example, is simplistic bordering on the opaque. You hit a central button to switch between different modes, but there’s no way of checking what functionality has been programmed into the device without plugging it into a computer.

Then there are some missing components like a Bluetooth connection to transmit data and instructions to and from a smartphone. TWSU says this was left out partly because of cost, and partly because it would turn the Mover into too much of a practical device.

"It’s not a smartwatch, it’s not a tracker, and it’s not about data," says Koby. "Kids don’t want Fitbits because they give a shit about the number of steps they’re taking, they want them because they’re cool accessories with tech in them." She says the Mover gives kids the cool tech, but doesn’t ask anything of them. Kids shouldn’t be like adults, worrying they’re not getting enough exercise, says Koby, they should be just free to play.

The USP of mover is that it blurs the line between an educational object and a straightforward toy.Itsa fun thing, first and foremost, and just incidentally introducing kids to the idea of programmable tech along the way.