With a few weeks still to go, Cambridge-based Cannybots has already secured over $100,000 via the crowd-sourcing site Kickstarter, beating its original target of $40,000 (achieved in the first two hours of its bid going on-line).


The smart vehicle-shaped toy robots are the creation of engineer (and CEO) Anish Mampetta, who originally set out to design something fun for his son, Arjun. They are designed to be built by children, then programmed and controlled from a phone, tablet, PC or Raspberry Pi.

Mr Mampetta, who set up the firm with business partner Wayne Keenan, said: “When I was younger, children would make things all the time. We had radio-controlled vehicles, and I used to take them apart and put them back together again. Now all that creativity goes into phones or tablets, which I think is a bit sad.

“I wanted something that Arjun could play with by the time he was five. He is now three, so I got there a couple of years early, and he absolutely loves playing about with them. He already knows where the switches and sensors are.”

Mr Mampetta and Mr Keenan teamed up after meeting at the Cambridge Makespace centre. A software developer by trade, the latter designed the control system for the Cannybots, which can run on a track that comes as part of the kit.

Mr Mampetta added: “We didn’t expect it to take off as a business, but we took the robots to a maker fair and met a teacher from Wimbledon College who was very interested. Since then, we have had a lot of orders from teachers who want to use them in their lessons.”

The company’s Kickstarter campaign runs until 12 November. For more information, visit the Web site (www.cannybots.com).