Chatterbox, the World's First Educational Smart Speaker Kit for Kids, Launches Crowdfunding Campaign on Kickstarter

United States - 05/07/2019 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

The company hopes to raise $10,000 to bring this easy to build and program, screen-free, private and highly educational device to homes and schools worldwide.

Chatterbox, the world's first build-it-yourself, program-it-yourself smart speaker kit designed for kids to learn about artificial intelligence, today officially launched its crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.

Chatterbox only does what kids teach it to do

After building Chatterbox and teaching it a few skills, Chatterbox becomes a future-facing "personal computer" that can be constantly improved over time. With Chatterbox in the bedroom or classroom, kids can get the weather, hear child-friendly news, set timers and alarms, control lights, send messages to or even call mom and dad, send messages to teachers and much more.

The more kids teach Chatterbox, the more kids learn about engineering, problem solving, language construction and critical thinking.

Chatterbox is kid-tested

Chatterbox has been in development for the past year, and has been tested extensively by real kids and teachers in top schools in Silicon Valley. We've been thrilled by the reception. Kids love Chatterbox. Parents love Chatterbox. And educators love Chatterbox.

Preparing Kids for the Future

The computer interface of the future is voice-driven artificial intelligence. Chatterbox’s mission is to prepare kids for a future where a human-like AI is ubiquitous by giving kids the tools and the motivation to create and use their very own AI. By building the hardware and teaching Chatterbox, kids learn how and why assistant technology works, rather than being tricked by black-box technology into thinking voice AI is human, or some kind of authority.

Socially Conscious Technology

Socially conscious technology is respectful of children's attention and privacy. That's why Chatterbox is screen-free, privacy-centric and both safe and healthy for kids. Chatterbox only listens when the button is pressed. And Chatterbox doesn't gather personal data. (It's COPPA compliant.)

Chatterbox is also low-cost and environmentally friendly. The enclosure or case is made from 100% recyclable cardboard. Chatterbox’s internal components are powered by the Raspberry Pi computer and a custom-designed Chatter expansion board for microphone and speaker functionality. All internal components are designed to be reused again and again.

Learning the Right Lessons

Most or all of the consumer technology in children's lives is designed for passive consumption, engineered to be addictive and distracting. Chatterbox is the opposite, and offers a replacement for laptops, tablets and phones that gives kids an internet-connected computing platform where they are incentivized to learn, adapt and problem-solve using speech technology.

Using the easy-to-use Chatterbox Skill Builder, kids as young as seven can build unique skills to get the weather, ask questions, control lights or listen to music. Chatterbox is designed to give kids a practical learning environment where they can explore their unique creativity while developing both empathy and logic skills.

Pricing and Availability

Chatterbox will ship to consumers and schools in December 2019, with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $179.99.

For more information visit Chatterbox on Kickstarter or at hellochatterbox.com

About Chatterbox

Chatterbox is a Silicon Valley startup founded by Kevin Elgan (formerly with Tynker and Piper). The Chatterbox team has built educational software and hardware products used by over 60 million people and 80 thousand schools worldwide.

Download photos associated with this announcement:

bit.ly/chatterbox-media

Nadia

nadia@hellochatterbox.com

310-409-9250