If you have read my blog long enough, you know I love tech. I love finished, polished, machined and handcrafted gizmos of all sorts and I dig blinking lights – and you probably do, too. 🙂
German designer Matas Petrikas has blended all these things into a super charming toy for kids and is presenting this figurine of sorts in a Kickstarter campaign. It’s not a doll, it’s not an action figure. It’s like a totem of sorts, beautifully crafted like wooden toys 60-70 years ago were built, and with innocent tech inside.
Unlike smart phones that blast 60 cycles per second of flickering light to a kid’s eyes and get them more engaged in machines than in people, the Avakai is something your child clutches like a beloved keepsake.
The technology inside Avakai allows it to sense proximity, touch and movement. It reacts to sounds and gives haptic 
feedback. The Avakai works best in pairs, but a single figurine can communicate and play with a mobile device that has the mobile app installed.
This Kickstarter campaign ends in less than 3 weeks and as of this writing, there are still some early bird options left for early backers.
These charming figures are intoxicating in their simplicity and charming sounds and interactions.
This wooden figure can tell the difference between a hug, a gentle stroke or a tap. This intelligent toy can be programmed for different reactions via the app and parents are in control of who and when the Avakai can communicate with another child’s Avakai.
You can follow Matas Petrikas’s company, Vai-Kai, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and their website.
