It is no secret that all of us at Circuits and Cable Knit love devices that encourage girls in STEM. Programmable technology that is designed for kids and girls specifically is the key to getting them engaged at an early age. Jewelbots is one of our favorite pieces of girl-oriented tech, elegant and full featured it allows girls of all ages to program the jewelry to whatever they can image. Recently we came across Linkitz, another wearable designed to help girls learn to program. To understand how the products are different, Linkitz is to Jewelbots as Duplo is to Legos.
Designed for young girls, Linkitz is a modular wearable device that is much more toy than jewelry. Three large, brightly colored plastic modules can be connected to a central hub. Each module brings different functionality, such as LEDs, a speaker, or a motion detector, which enable the device to behave differently. For example, the bracelet can customized to be a walkie talkie, a friendship bracelet, or a Simon Says game. To program the device, Linkitz wants to keep it simple and relies entirely on a pictographic programming language. The wearable toy is expected this ship this December following a successful Kickstarter campaign where it raised over $100,000. If you want to preorder a band, they start at $60, but if you want every module, you will need to order the set of two bands for $250.
