Why did we decide to develop DIY toy kits that can interact with each other?

Let’s start with the history of a very popular brand of building blocks - LEGO. To be honest, a similar history applies to many other beloved brands. In the 1980s, LEGO created amazing block sets with extensive interactivity. If you've never heard of them, check out this video

Nowadays, there's nothing quite like those LEGO sets from the 80s. While modern sets are incredibly detailed, they lack the charm and simplicity that once encouraged kids, and even adults, to build their own creations, set them up, and truly engage with them instead of merely assembling and then forgetting about them. With Toys Engineering, we aim to design and produce DIY sets that recapture that charming simplicity of the 80s while also teaching both kids and adults how to construct and develop their own hardware projects involving electronics. The main difference is that we use materials such as wood and cardboard, readily available in your local shops, to create additional layout elements, such as houses, roads, cars, and trains. In this post, I want to share with you the main ideas behind Toys Engineering's DIY model kits.

We thoroughly enjoy playing with a variety of toys, from simple wooden mechanical toys to model railways. We find inspiration in visiting toy museums and watching retro toy videos, seeking out interesting ideas for our future DIY toys. For instance, the toys and sets pictured below have inspired us to design our RC car and train sets with a retro, simplified aesthetic, albeit integrated with modern electronics.

We also frequent numerous toy markets across Europe and watch many toy reviews. However, all modern electronic toys, especially DIY ones, suffer from a common problem: they tend to hold interest for only a short period. In other words, what happens after I've built and played with a toy for a few hours? Sure, I can make it move forward, backward, left, and right. But what's next? It ends up being set aside and forgotten. We aim to change this dynamic by creating DIY model toys that offer enduring play value, achieved by incorporating various interactions between toys, akin to those found on model railway layouts. Our core team boasts extensive experience with modern microchips and hardware projects, allowing us to develop everything in-house—hardware, firmware, design. This approach facilitates seamless play, testing, and iterative improvements on the fly. For example, if we have an RC car and want to open a garage door when the car crosses a certain point near a house, just imagine how much time and money a traditional toy brand would need to develop such logic in collaboration with a third-party company. We can accomplish it in days, right in our workshop.

Interactive DIY toys sound great, but what else will Toys Engineering sets offer? How do they differ from other STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) kits?

• Our kits will not only demonstrate but also teach you how to develop real hardware projects. You won't just assemble a kit; you'll have the ability to modify and upload custom firmware to alter the behavior of a toy and how it communicates with others.
• The kits will be priced at 70-80 EUR (USD), which is neither cheap nor expensive when compared to current DIY kits with electronics.
• All kits will be solder-free, ensuring that even users with zero electronics experience can build our toys.
• Our kits are manufactured in the EU, except for some electronics produced in Asia. (Apologies, we endeavored to find electronics produced in the EU, but it proved unfeasible. Perhaps by 2028, we'll be able to achieve this.)
• Even after building a kit, you can continue to improve it. We provide two sets of instructions: one on assembly and another on how to enhance the firmware.
• We release firmware updates (the applications that should be uploaded to a microchip) with new features, and all firmware is open-source.
• All toys are fully functional, allowing you to play with them and even construct a smart city layout by combining different kits.
• We strive to utilize only materials and electronics that can be readily found in local online shops or AliExpress. While AliExpress might not sound particularly exciting, it remains a primary source for everything you need to build various hardware projects.
• Each kit includes additional elements to enhance your enjoyment of the toy you've built.
• The toys are built to a 1:32 scale, which strikes a balance—not too small like model trains in scales H0 or N, nor too large, allowing you to construct a city layout in your room, complete with numerous interactions and intriguing details.

Let's see how it goes, but we're well-equipped to design DIY toys that not only appeal to kids but also to adults. Our aim is to create toys that embody the charm of 80s-era toys on one hand and feature modern wireless electronics on the other—toys that encourage spending more quality time offline with kids, family, and friends.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at hey@toys.engineering. The first kit will be available from March 2024 on our website - Toys Engineering.