Thames & Kosmos conducts 'Robotics Workshop' at Toy Fair

Thames & Kosmos CEO Andrew Quartin at Toy Fair

Buoyed by its Toy Industry Association Tech Toy of the Year award for CodeGamer along with respective Game of the Year and Infant/Preschool Toy of the Year nominations for Imhotep and Robot Engineer, leading STEM toymaker Thames & Kosmos showed off its new Robotics Workshop science kit at last month's Toy Fair.

The advanced robotics kit, which was the centerpiece of a nifty Thames & Kosmos display piece integrating many of the company's toy product lines, is a complete robotics engineering system featuring detailed instructions for building and operating 10 different robot models. It also teaches kids how to program their own robotic creations, noted CEO Andrew Quartin.

"You can do whatever you want once you know how to use the system," said Quartin.

Robotics Workshop is among Thames & Kosmos's science sets that combine physical magnetic building pieces with educational apps. Another is the award-winning Happy Atoms chemistry construction set incorporating augmented reality in a digital teaching tool enabling kids to learn about molecules intuitively. Introduced last year, Happy Atoms was itself augmented at this year's Toy Fair by the new, smaller and less expensive Happy Atoms Introductory Set.

"We're beyond pleased with the success of our science kits," said Ted McGuire, president of Thames & Kosmos.

"The positive reception to recent releases like Happy Atoms is truly inspiring," added McGuire. "When Jesse Schell [of Schell Games, a leading video game developer] approached us in 2015 about collaborating on Happy Atoms, we immediately saw the potential of this engaging, fun, and easy approach to teaching chemistry. We are constantly pushing to develop new products that teach kids in innovative ways, so it’s extremely rewarding to release a product like Happy Atoms and, right out of the gate, see children and parents responding so positively to it."