Hands on with Stickerbox, the AI-powered sticker maker for kids

There’s a caller AI-powered artifact for kids called Stickerbox, and, earlier you groan, I’m present to study that it’s amazingly fun.

Stickerbox, a merchandise calved retired of Brooklyn-based startup Hapiko, is simply a voice-activated sticker printer. The instrumentality takes immoderate originative thought you person successful your caput and transforms it into a printed sticker that you tin past color, peel, and instrumentality anywhere.

Before trying the instrumentality itself, I person to admit I came with a preconceived antagonistic bias — arsenic did my chap tester (my daughter). Our archetypal reactions were similiar: “An AI that prints stickers? I’d alternatively plan and people my own.”

After trying the reappraisal portion sent by the company, we were won over.

Stickerbox, I realized, could correspond a caller signifier of originative play — and 1 that doesn’t outsource the child’s imaginativeness to an AI exemplary arsenic overmuch arsenic you’d think.

Image Credits:TechCrunch

Testing the AI sticker printer

The $99.99 artifact itself is simply a small, agleam reddish container with a black-and-white surface and a big, achromatic “push-to-talk” fastener connected top. It ships with 3 rolls of paper, which equates to 180 stickers, arsenic good arsenic a powerfulness cord and colored pencils.

The box’s colour strategy is reminiscent of the Etch A Sketch, which makes sense, fixed that the Stickerbox feels similar a modern rotation connected that concept. In the Etch A Sketch’s case, you person to larn however to power antithetic knobs to make the representation successful your mind. With Stickerbox, those “knobs” are replaced with thing much abstract: the dependable commands you usage to punctual the AI model.

Kids aren’t reasoning astir however to beryllium amended punctual engineers, of course; they’re conscionable exploring their imaginativeness and having amusive seeing their ideas travel to life. Any betterment successful their prompting abilities is simply a broadside effect.

To initially acceptable up the device, a genitor volition request to help. Much similar adding a astute talker to your home’s Wi-Fi, you person to archetypal link to the Stickerbox’s Wi-Fi, past participate the accusation to link with your location network. The setup process, which lone took a minute, went disconnected without a hitch.

Image Credits:Stickerbox

Using Stickerbox is simple. You propulsion the button, picture an representation retired loud, past merchandise the fastener to spot your substance look connected screen, followed by an AI-generated representation arsenic the printer spits retired a carnal copy.

There’s a serendipity to an acquisition successful which you’re reasoning of an thought and past holding it successful your manus successful a substance of seconds.

The device’s thermal representation printer requires nary ink, and the insubstantial is BPS and BPA-free, making it harmless to use.

The printed sticker is casual to teardrop disconnected and past tin beryllium colored successful with the colored pencils that travel with the device. Your ain crayons and markers besides work. This combines the somewhat dopamine-driven acquisition of reasoning up caller things to people with the much calming oregon meditative aspects that travel with coloring, akin to giving kids a coloring book.

This ended up offering a steadfast equilibrium betwixt utilizing perchance addictive tech and past slowing down to prosecute successful a real-world activity. It besides helped to code imaginable boredom.

Image Credits:TechCrunch

The much you usage the Sitckerbox, the much you recognize however analyzable your prompts tin be. You don’t conscionable person to inquire for a basal image, similar a “magical unicorn,” you tin talk to the Stickerbox with long, train-of-thought commands, and the AI parses what you mean. (This is peculiarly utile fixed that kids don’t thin to explicate things successful a straightforward fashion.)

Making “AI for Kids”

Hapiko, the institution down Stickerbox, was founded this twelvemonth by CEO Arun Gupta and CTO Robert (Bob)Whitney. The brace primitively met portion moving astatine the e-commerce marketplace Grailed, wherever Whitney was manager of engineering and Gupta was CEO. (The institution sold to GOAT Group successful 2022.)

Before Grailed, Gupta founded and launched the Y Combinator-backed hardware sleep tracker WakeMate.

Stickerbox co-founders Arun Gupta (CEO) and Bob Whitney (CTO)Image Credits:Stickerbox

Whitney, meanwhile, had worked arsenic the manager of engineering astatine The New York Times’ Games division, arsenic the steadfast pivoted from offering conscionable crosswords to becoming a full-fledged gaming app, acquiring Wordle and launching different games similar Connections and Strads. While that acquisition taught him a batch astir what makes a large consumer-facing product, his aboriginal stint astatine Anthropic gave him a first-hand look astatine the advances successful AI technology.

However, it was his acquisition arsenic a begetter that inspired Stickerbox.

When his lad asked for a coloring leafage helium didn’t person connected hand, helium turned to ChatGPT to marque a printable image.

“I made it for him — a tiger eating crystal cream. And helium had ne'er seen a printer before. I got retired from nether the bed, our HP member printer — virtually dusted it disconnected and printed it for him, and helium ran disconnected happily and started coloring it,” explained Whitney. “But, a infinitesimal later, the gears were turning, and helium came backmost to me, and helium was like, ‘I privation a lizard riding a skateboard.’ And I was like, okay, cool, fto maine marque that for you.”

His lad was truthful thrilled with the process of being capable to accidental thing and spot it travel to beingness that helium realized determination could beryllium thing to this.

“I conscionable saw this look connected his look of magic — similar axenic magic,” noted Whitney.

The co-founders were besides reasoning astir however AI exertion offered truthful galore caller experiences, but astir weren’t made for kids.

“Nobody’s gathering AI specifically for kids. So that’s what we’re looking for,” said Gupta. “What are the close guardrails? What are the close ways? What are the close products?”

They realized that kids person large imaginations, perfect for moving with an AI representation model.

“[They have] endless imaginativeness and creativity … they’re learning caller things each day. Every week, they’ve got a caller obsession. We’re virtually the archetypal radical successful the world, I think, to enactment an representation exemplary wrong of a box,” Gupta said.

Built for Updates

Under the hood, Stickerbox really uses a operation of AI models, including its ain proprietary tech focused connected making the instrumentality kid-safe. It won’t respond to requests for harmful content, similar unit oregon intersexual imagery, and it filters retired curse words. And if you effort a somewhat much innocuous command, similar “boobs,” it conscionable prints a random sticker that whitethorn beryllium vaguely related to the word. (For instance, you mightiness get a generic cartoon girl, but not a large-chested one.)

After trying and failing to get a naughty result, astir kids volition apt spell backmost to conscionable prompting the instrumentality for silly images instead.

“We privation to beryllium the trusted marque for parents wherever you don’t person to look implicit your kid’s enarthrosis and beryllium like, ‘what are they doing? How are they utilizing this?,” said Gupta.

For now, the institution generates immoderate gross from the instrumentality sales, but it keeps the outgo of restocking insubstantial low. It’s conscionable $5.99 for 3 rolls, which equates to 180 stickers. (It’s presently moving a promotion that offers six rolls with each acquisition now.)

Over time, the squad plans to research adding premium features, including a mode to upload your ain representation to ideate yourself successful fantastic scenarios oregon collaboration tools.

As a Wi-Fi-connected device, the Stickerbox is regularly updated with caller firmware and features. In tests, for instance, we were capable to people immoderate recognizable characters, but a much caller update added caller guardrails to usher kids toward much archetypal designs.

A soon-to-launch companion app besides lets you presumption past creations and prevention favorites, and could yet service arsenic the location for premium features.

Stickerbox is backed by $7 million successful backing from Maveron, Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures, the Allen Institute’s AI2 incubator, and assorted angels, including Matt Brezina, and merchandise leaders from different user apps.