A young girl holds what looks like a soft stuffed robot. She’s sitting on a couch, facing a camera. A voice – it’s the robot – invites her to play a game: He’ll tell her what it’s like to be robot and ask her questions about “being a real kid with real feelings.”
The stuffed toy is not so much a toy as it is a device developed by EduCharacter – a Twin Cities startup focused on early child development. To some, it’s a computer, though it doesn’t have a screen. It’s purpose aligns more with Mr. Rogers, but in a personal, interactive software-based format. Kids ages 3 to 8 can learn social, emotional, and language skills through games, including “What’s it Like?” – which was demonstrated in the video and is designed to teach empathy.
The ‘Smart Robot’ connects to wifi and operates with software enabled through Amazon’s Alexa Skills Store. The company is focused on getting its platform into kids’ hands through parents and early childhood programs. They will partner with New Horizon Academy, a Minnesota child care chain.
The key element, said founder and CEO DeLonn Crosby, is it allows kids to play and learn with technology but without a screen. Researchers so far don’t have a clear picture of how kids use of phones, tablets, and other screens affect their development. The National Institutes of Health will spend the next decade studying the impact in 11,000 kids, according to reports.
Crosby said EduCharacter was designed to promote child development while heeding pediatricians and other child development experts’ concerns that screens get in the way of learning soft skills. He wants to help adults make the connection. Parents may register concern for the amount of time a child spends on a smartphone or tablet, but won’t connect it to a lack of development in empathy, for example.
“The average parent is busy,” he said. “They’re struggling to just survive. Screens … they’re everywhere. They’re so easy. They want to be able to make dinner and not manage kiddos.”
Before founding EduCharacter, Crosby worked at Target’s community relations division. He said that’s where he became interested in child development. He left the corporate world to work with NovuHealth, a healthcare company in Minneapolis. He said that’s where he started to dive into character skills development, which includes concepts like grit, self-control, and empathy, and are better at predicting a person’s success in life.
Crosby is invested in childhood development in his personal life, too. He’s married to a kindergarten teacher and has three kids under the age of 7. He said their input has helped him dive into the issue of childhood development and test his ideas of what kids will find fun and engaging.
EduCharacter is selling the device for $100. Folks can buy it now but deliveries won’t be made until 2019. Crosby estimates they’ll go out between March and June.
