TIO – «smart» constructor controlled by your iPhone
British developers have presented a “smart” constructor TIO for children, from which you can make a car, hand glider, windmill and so on. With built-in electronics, it is possible to control the toys with your iPhone or iPad.
TIO includes two blocks with a small built-in engines and LEDs, various parts of thick paper, stickers, magnetic mount, accessories and book with stories for children. You will be also able to download a free application to control available parts of assembled toys.
The tool itself recognizes the position of the blocks relative to each other and allows to adjust the speed and direction of movement of wheels and blades associated to them. Also, an application has LED control option. The program interface is a very simple and intuitive and should therefore be handled even by the youngest users easily.
Developers are positioning TIO as an alternative to Skylanders or LEGO NinjaGo. But unlike those, the novelty will not only collect the parts of toys, but also “revive” them with the help of Apple’s mobile devices. At the moment the project TIO raises funds for mass production at crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. The cost of the constructor will be about $100 per kit. Deliveries are scheduled for June 2016.