Build notes
The build, as it goes.
Board reviews, the speaker mount that survived and the ones that did not, what the first families say when they take one home. Written when it happens, not as a launch story later.
Getting Robi ready for other families.
October 27, 2026
The board is finished and checked, a bench unit goes on the list, and the first parent conversations raise the question of a screen.
The knob is the dot.
September 9, 2026
Childcare four days a week, a new identity built around the one thing on the product that matters, the first renders from the production CAD, and forty Raspberry Pis on order for the beta.
Placed, not routed.
August 14, 2026
Every part on Robi's board has a position, the printed test plate proves the board will seat in the shell, and the copper waits until after a two-week family trip.
Yours to keep, on a clock.
August 12, 2026
The plan for sharing Robi's software and hardware designs, in a working version.
The schematic is closed.
July 29, 2026
Seven weeks after it opened, the schematic for Robi's first real board passes its checks and goes out for review.
Offline first, in three parts.
July 17, 2026
Two weeks after Big Sur, the player plays without a network, the phone controls it over Bluetooth, and a starter pack begins with eight shows.
Robi never left the bag.
July 3, 2026
Three nights of camping in Big Sur, no Wi-Fi, no signal, and a player that did nothing, which is the whole bug.
v3, hot glue and all.
June 29, 2026
The third build is in one piece and in a three-year-old's hands before a camping trip, the player learns to sleep and wake, and the plan for the real board is set.
The player has a new name. My son picked it.
May 24, 2026
Two weeks in China with a toddler and a baby, no work, and the name that had been missing since January.
The redesigned player in CAD, and the beta goes app-first.
April 29, 2026
The redesigned player is modeled properly, the app learns to work without a player, and the first beta is scoped to the app alone.
Stories in your own voice.
March 28, 2026
The app can now write a story for a child and read it aloud, or record a parent reading one, and the first boombox print came out clear instead of white.
The boombox is locked.
March 16, 2026
A working session settles the shape of the device and what each control does, and the site turns into a waitlist.
kid.studio is the day job now.
February 22, 2026
My job ended on February 4th, the week gets a shape, and the brand's red gets bolder.
A site, a waitlist, and a boombox in the margin.
January 16, 2026
kid.studio gets a website with a waitlist, and a new shape for the player shows up on paper.
A card you can flash, and a version number.
January 8, 2026
The player gets a name, a build that produces a complete memory card, and version 0.1.0.
Feeds become shows, playlists become mixes.
December 23, 2025
The app's words change to ones a parent would use, the library gets simpler, and the icon gets a set of variations.
The app finally works, and it has two tabs.
December 7, 2025
After two weeks of loops, the companion app adds a show, and it gets a Stories tab and a Music tab.
Now there is an app.
November 20, 2025
The first companion app pairs with the player, puts it on Wi-Fi and controls it from a phone, after eleven days and three missing files.
The player moves into a bigger box, on purpose.
October 20, 2025
The original handheld is retired, and the software and app work move into a plug-in GuSi radio enclosure with a real speaker, a knob and two buttons.
The box keeps getting deeper.
August 10, 2025
A battery makes the handheld nearly twice as thick, and a radio another maker designed comes off the printer for study.
The first player plays.
July 21, 2025
A tiny computer, a speaker and five buttons on a breadboard play a podcast for the first time.
I started drawing a podcast player.
June 20, 2025
The first sketches of a small audio player for kids, and the reason to build one.
Kickstarter, early 2027
Be there when Robi ships.
One email when preorders open. Build notes in between if you want them. Nothing else.
Join the waitlist