ABOUT

Tio is the kit anyone can use to create app-controlled toys and inventions with everyday objects and materials like recycled and craft materials, old toys, Lego, gadgets and even 3D prints. It is designed to spark invention, encourage creative play and provide a new way to acquire future skills and knowledge including creative thinking, team work, problem solving, arts and crafts, technology, design and engineering principles. The Tio Kit includes motorised building blocks with built-in LEDs, magnetic mounts, colourful wheels, interchangeable accessories, sticky tabs, stickers and a personalised storybook. It comes with nine pop and fold invention templates to get started before exploring different materials.

The free iOS/Android app communicates wirelessly with your creations to customise and program them. It controls many features like motor speed and direction as well as LED colours, rotation and patterns. With simple taps on the app, the programming mode allows creators to record and play back live actions including colour patterns and movements. Coding is possible but not required making the app accessible to all.

Using the kit, adults and children with no technical expertise, can create an infinite number of toys and animate the world around them.

Amalgam used 3D CAD to produce a series of 3D prints using our in-house Objet process. After hand finishing to ensure the surface textures closely replicate design intent we used the master models to produce silicone soft tooling, in turn this tooling went on to produce several sets of brightly coloured, fully functional plastic parts, which once assembled with motors, LEDs, magnets and circuitry became the working prototypes used by Tio to do market research, promote their product to a range of investors and eventually, launch their successful Kickstarter campaign.