Can't understand all the negative comments here (I'm definitely in shut-up-and-take-my-money mode): this looks like an amazing toy. It is only a puzzle toy, but I know that as a kid I would have had a blast with this thing. Physical objects like rolling marbles are fun, memorable, and accessible in a way that typing text into a screen simply is not. The mechanical switches are incredibly easy to understand, and it is very obvious why a gate does what it does. The point here isn't to make someone curious about programming per se: it is to build a contextual foundation so that, much later, when they are learning these things more formally, they have a direct, useful metaphor. So they can make a cognitive hop instead of a cognitive leap.
Viewing it as a game, I'm absolutely amazed (I'm a sucker for kinetic game ideas and this got me in instant Shut Up And Take My Money! mood - yes, I'm an adult, don't judge me :P)<p>However I don't see this game to be very successful in making someone curious about programming. It's based on the concept of using a computer as a mechanical calculator and, while this is the formal underpinning of all programming, it's not avery spectacular application.<p>I think the thing that is most mind-blowing from a user perspective is how to get a computer to perform all kinds of tasks that don't seem to have to do anything to do with computations: Creating images and animations, driving complex machinery, communicating, etc. The gap from theory to application isn't that interesting from a theoretical CS point of view but I think it's more important for teaching programming.
Quote Kickstarter: "I played with the shape, size, weight, balance, and surface friction, and eventually arrived at a working design (g). However, when I altered the design to make it injection-mold-friendly and CNC milled it (h), it became too light and bouncy. A ball would flip it one way, and it would bounce right back the other way again. I made a few more adjustments and finally arrived at (i)."<p>I think there will be still some iteration when going for injection molds.<p>I was also thinking that Kickstart project makers should ask more from their community. I would love to translate to a Dutch version for example.<p>However, we've run a Kickstarter project ourselves. The involvement is not like that in practice. :-) It would be nice though to have a more collaborative creation process.
I m always looking out for games that teach something for my daughter. I m a huge fan of <a href="https://wewanttoknow.com/" rel="nofollow">https://wewanttoknow.com/</a> that produce very nice math games. But I like this concept because it is not on a tablet but you can touch the piece and see the ball falling and all the moves of the physical object.<p>By the way, any suggestion for more fun and smart game?
AFAIK the digi-comp ii and dr. nim toys, both invented by my grandpa, were the first to use the physical toggles/marble architecture. They were very influential in inspiring a generation of computer scientists, and since these days there's so little focus on fundamentals of computing it's great to see a modern twist on it! Good timing since my kids are almost old enough to be exposed to this
I would be remiss to not point out the obvious mechanical design challenges here. There are over a dozen injection molded parts that need tooling and shots set up. The NRE for this project could end up extremely substantial.
Looks pretty cool to me, it shows complex behavior from simple rules which should add an extra layer of understanding to real programming. The video did make me wonder something: have there been done scientific studies that show that adding acoustic guitar music to the background of a crowdfunding video increase donations? Since such music is so commonly added to those.
I work at an elementary school and I absolutely love this concept.<p>My only concern is that the speed of execution is rather quick (and rather difficult to control since... you know... gravity). Besides very trivial examples, I think younger children will likely have a difficult time "debugging" and reasoning their way to a solution. The "stopper" piece can certainly be helpful for students to use as they slowly build out their solution, though, and so that may be sufficient.<p>I've always had success with toys or other instructional materials that have tried to make computational logic a physical, tangible thing for students. There are plenty of toys in this category that have a physical element to it yet it is simply a by-product of the computation that is still "hidden" in software. There's a reason why Papert was so fascinated by gears. I'm incredibly excited about this and can't wait to try it out.
PSA<p>This webpage from 2007 is the first place I saw the same fundamental board design: <a href="http://woodgears.ca/marbleadd/" rel="nofollow">http://woodgears.ca/marbleadd/</a><p>Direct video link: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcDshWmhF4A" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcDshWmhF4A</a><p>The design in the two links above is fairly simple (I'd hate to see the patent office decide it was unique[ly patentable], for example), and so I doubt that this person from 2007 was the first to build it.<p>But I wouldn't be surprised if this particular design and video served as some serious inspiration for the linked product.<p>To clarify, I recognize that this system far surpasses the basic wooden adder I've linked. But the similarities are there.
Here's a similar take on the same idea made in the UK and available to buy now: <a href="http://everyonecanprogram.com" rel="nofollow">http://everyonecanprogram.com</a>
This reminds me strongly of something I saw in or around the late 70s, I think linked with an Open University course my mother was taking at the time. I found it a fascinating insight into how logic and arithmetic operations were built up. Can't seem to find anything about it online just now, sadly. For the right kind of kid (or adult!) it could be fantastic (and educational) fun.
Can mechanical computers be a serious alternative to electronic ones? I mean, how efficient can a mechanical computer be if we were to miniaturize them as much as we can?<p>I suppose the essence of a mechanical computer is that it transmits and process signals as mechanical stress, thus sound and ultimately phonons instead of electrons. How hard are big IT companies looking into it?
I feel like a less abstract way would be to use an old style pinball game with some transparency added. Yes, there's some electronics, but simplified some more that could probably be overcome (as the goal would be getting kids to understand the relationship to things and how they work, rather than pumping quarters).
This reminds me a lot of Matthias Wandel's "binary marble adding machine"[0] which you could, theoretically, build yourself if you think this is cool.<p>[0] <a href="http://woodgears.ca/marbleadd/" rel="nofollow">http://woodgears.ca/marbleadd/</a>
why not just get a reproduction of the DIGICOMP I?<p><a href="http://mindsontoys.com/kits.htm" rel="nofollow">http://mindsontoys.com/kits.htm</a><p>it's not turing complete, but it goes a long way and is fun to build!
Flip-flip gates seem like a confusing way to first learn about ram/variables.<p>Plus we barely see any demos of an actual puzzle solution in the video. Because the number of ball drops needed to do anything sophisticated is probably overbearing. The cringe factor is very high. I don't trust this dude, the "Im making educational lollypops for kids" pitch is oversold for what is an underwhelming product.<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_(electronics)" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_(electronics)</a>