There's a brand new AI-powered toy for youths called Sticker boxand before you groan, let me inform you that it's surprisingly fun.
Stickerbox, a product that emerged from a Brooklyn-based startup Hapikois a voice activated sticker printer. The device takes any creative idea you’ve got in your head and turns it right into a printed sticker you can then color, peel and stick anywhere.
Before I try the device for myself, I even have to confess that I had a preconceived negative bias – as did my fellow tester (my daughter). Our initial reactions were similar: “.”
After trying out the test device sent by the corporate, we were convinced.
Sticker boxI spotted that it could represent a brand new type of creative play – one which doesn't outsource the kid's imagination to an AI model as much as one would think.
Testing the AI Sticker Printer
The $99.99 toy itself is a small, shiny red box with a black-and-white screen and a big, white “push-to-talk” button on the highest. The delivery includes three rolls of paper (reminiscent of 180 stickers) in addition to an influence cable and coloured pencils.
The box's color scheme is harking back to Etch A Sketch, which is smart considering Stickerbox looks as if a contemporary twist on that idea. In the case of Etch A Sketch, you’ve got to learn how one can control different buttons to create the image in your head. With Stickerbox, these “buttons” are replaced with something more abstract: the voice commands you utilize to regulate the AI model.
Of course, children don't take into consideration how one can turn out to be higher engineers; They simply explore their imagination and have a good time seeing their ideas come to life. Any improvement of their prompting skills is a side effect.
A parent's assistance is required to initially arrange the device. Similar to adding a wise speaker to your house's Wi-Fi, you'll first need to connect with the Stickerbox's Wi-Fi after which enter the knowledge to connect with your house network. The setup process, which only took a minute, went easily.
Using Stickerbox is straightforward. You press the button, describe a picture out loud, then release the button to see your text appear on the screen, followed by an AI-generated image because the printer outputs a physical copy.
It's a coincidence when you’ve got an idea after which have it in your hand inside seconds.
The device's thermal image printer doesn’t require ink, however the paper does BPS and BPA-free, making it secure to make use of.
The printed sticker may be easily torn off after which coloured in with the included coloured pencils. Your own coloured pencils and markers may also work. This combines the somewhat dopamine-fueled experience of pondering up recent things to print with the more calming or meditative features that coloring brings, much like giving children a coloring book.
This ultimately led to a healthy balance between using potentially addictive technology after which slowing down to have interaction in a real-world activity. It also helped combat possible boredom.
The more you utilize Stickerbox, the more you realize how complex your prompts may be. You don't just must ask for a straightforward image like a “magic unicorn,” you should utilize Stickerbox to talk with long, thoughtful commands and the AI will analyze what you mean. (This is especially useful since children tend not to clarify things directly.)
Making “AI for youngsters”.
Hapiko, the corporate behind Stickerbox, was founded by the CEO this yr Arun Gupta and CTO Robert (Bob) Whitney. The couple originally met while working at e-commerce marketplace Grailed, where Whitney was technical director and Gupta was CEO. (The company was sold to GOAT Group in 2022.)
Prior to Grailed, Gupta founded and launched the Y Combinator-backed hardware sleep tracker WakeMate.
Whitney, meanwhile, had been working as a technical director within the games department at The New York Times when the publisher transitioned from just offering crossword puzzles to a full-fledged gaming app by acquiring Wordle and launching other games like Connections and Strads. While this experience taught him lots about what makes a fantastic consumer-facing product, his later work at Anthropic gave him his first glimpse of advances in AI technology.
However, it was his experience as a father that inspired Stickerbox.
When his son asked for a coloring page he didn't have readily available, he turned to ChatGPT to create a printable image.
“I made it for him – a tiger eating ice cream. And he had never seen a printer before. I got our HP printer out from under the bed – literally dusted it off and printed it out for him, and he happily ran away and began coloring it,” Whitney explained. “But a minute later every thing turned around and he got here back to me and said, 'I would like a lizard that rides a skateboard.' And I used to be like, “Okay, cool, let me do this for you.”
His son was so excited by the technique of having the ability to say something and see it come to life that he realized there could be something to it.
“I just saw this magical look on his face – like pure magic,” Whitney remarked.
The co-founders also reflected on how AI technology offers so many novel experiences, but most usually are not designed for youngsters.
“No one is developing AI specifically for youths, in order that’s what we’re in search of,” Gupta said. “What are the fitting guardrails? What are the fitting paths? What are the fitting products?”
They realized that children have great imaginations, ideal for working with an AI image model.
“(They have) limitless imagination and creativity…they learn recent things each day. Every week they’ve a brand new obsession. I believe we are actually the primary people on the earth to place an image model in a box,” Gupta said.
Built for updates
Under the hood, Stickerbox actually uses a mix of AI models, including its own proprietary technology that goals to make the device child-proof. It doesn’t reply to requests for harmful content resembling violence or sexual images and filters out swear words. And should you try a more innocuous command like “boobs,” it can just print a random sticker which may be vaguely related to the word. (For example, you could possibly get a typical cartoon girl, but not a big-chested girl.)
After an unsuccessful attempt at a naughty result, most kids will probably return to easily asking the device to enter silly images.
“We wish to be the trusted brand for fogeys where you don't must look over your child's shoulder and say, 'What do they do? How do they use this?'” Gupta said.
Currently, the corporate generates some revenue from equipment sales but keeps paper inventory replenishment costs low. Three rolls are only $5.99, which equals 180 stickers. (There is currently a special promotion where you may get six rolls with any purchase.)
Over time, the team plans to explore adding premium features, including a approach to upload your individual image to assume yourself in fantastical scenarios or collaboration tools.
As a Wi-Fi connected device, Stickerbox is commonly updated with recent firmware and features. For example, in testing we were in a position to print some recognizable characters, but a recent update added recent guardrails to guide kids toward more original designs.
A forthcoming companion app may also allow you to view past creations and save favorites, and will ultimately function a house for premium features.
Sticker box is supported with $7 million within the financing of MaveronSerena Williams' Serena Venturesthe Allen Institute AI2 incubatorand various angels, including Matt Brezina, and product leaders from other consumer apps.
