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THE PROJECT
DoodleBot is an educational robot from the MIT Media Lab that teaches robotics and AI to children ages 6 to 14. MIT brought in KAIA as its industrial design partner to turn the research prototype into a product they could build and sell at scale.
THE CHALLENGE
DoodleBot had to be a robot a child would love, and keep coming back to. It also had to hit a hard cost, a $50 unit at a 100,000-unit run, low enough for a school to buy. More features meant more cost, so the robot had to win kids on design alone. DoodleBot would start as a small pilot, but we had to design it for mass production from day one.
THE SOLUTION
KAIA joined MIT’s research team, surveyed the field of companion and learning robots, developed three candidate directions, and chose the one built on simple, timeless forms.
Ideation. Early concept work, not the final robot.
We worked these early concepts from wireframe to render, before any electronics went in.
We gave DoodleBot an animated face and a body that holds a marker and takes turns drawing with a child. In one form it works as three machines, an autonomous robot, a social companion, and a drawing partner.
We designed it alongside the teachers and students who would use it. Their feedback pushed us to a drop-resistant shell, a build made for three years of daily use, and a swappable USB-C battery for back-to-back sessions. We documented the design against the alternatives and handed MIT a manufacturable robot, ready to build in quantity.
THIS PROJECT INCLUDED
- Industrial Design
- Concept and Ideation
- Design for Manufacturing
- Design for Volume Production
THE OUTCOME
DoodleBot moved from breadboard prototype to a manufacturable, classroom-ready robot. We engineered it to hit the $50 target at volume. The first run was 50 units. In testing, a child turned to a parent and asked, “Mom, can we have this at home?”
MIT’s team published it at the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, and the project carried forward into a multi-year program spanning robot and AI storybook character work.
KAIA CAN HELP YOU
KAIA designs products you can build and sell, at a cost the factory can hit.
If you have something to bring to market, let’s talk.