Developed by Mechanismic Inc, a small firm with close ties to Stony Brook University, SnappyXO, is a DIY robotics education platform designed to encourage young children to think outside the box while simultaneously teaching them many of the engineering principles they will need to succeed in the STEM workforce. Enabling students in elementary school through college to create robots using a set of hardware along with a motion design app, the platform merges an innovative design metaphor with a fast manufacturing process to enable mass customization. This capability, which sets SnappyXO apart from other platforms, allows students to not only build robots, but to design and prototype their own robot kits. Robotics Launchpad may be the first product of its kind enabling schools and colleges to provide an authentic robotics education to its students covering diverse disciplines in science and engineering in the context of engineering design. The technology may also be used in creating robotics products for students while also being scalable as well as application agnostic. This could enable industry practitioners to create functional prototypes and help individuals design and build their own highly customized devices, such as in Physical therapy and rehabilitation. development. Previously funded through the SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF) to enable manufacture of several dozen prototypes for delivery to summer camps and programs to further validate the demand and excitement for a simple, easy-to-use, and low-cost robotics kit. This project is additionally being supported by the NY-state SPIR and SensorCAT programs on the Stony Brook University campus.
