This might be the best answer yet to getting your kids’ LEGO bricks off the ground so you don’t step on them with bare feet. A startup called Flybrix has started selling the parts needed to make a drone out of the colorful blocks.
Founded in 2014 out of San Francisco, Flybrix is looking to make a must-have item out of two things kids should love: creating with LEGOs and learning to fly a drone.
The independent company, which is not aligned with or endorsed by The LEGO Group, is selling a couple different kits to start the process. The hope is that creativity will take over and a love of tinkering with robotics and software and flight testing will take root.
The Basic Flybrix Kit sells for $149 and comes with everything you need to build a drone and get it in the air — except the smartphone, which will be necessary in order to use the Flybrix Bluetooth Flight Control App.
The Deluxe Flybrix Kit is $189 and adds the “enhanced piloting option for flying your drones using radio control.” That controller is also sold separately for $80.
Designed for kids 14 and older, the product details shed light on how the open-source code makes the experience “infinitely tweakable” for “true techies and pro pilots.” But because LEGOs are involved, no doubt younger kids are going to want to get in on the action, and the company stresses that parent interaction will enhance the experience.
A video featuring “The Wrong Brothers” shows a couple teens engaged in the trial-and-error process of building a drone, discovering Flybrix, learning to fly and crash and fly again, and experimenting with new designs.
