Makeblock is a private Chinese technology company headquartered in
Shenzhen
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
, China. It develops Arduino-based
hardware,
robotics hardware
Robotics is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist human ...
, and Scratch-based software for the purpose of providing educational tools for learning. This includes
programming,
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
and
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
through the use of robotics.
Makeblock's products are sold in more than 140 countries and have over 10 million users in 20,000 schools worldwide.
Roughly 70 percent of Makeblock's sales occur outside of China, with the United States being the largest market.
Founder & CEO
Born in 1985 in
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
, China, Jasen Wang (Wang Jianjun - 王建军) says that he grew up as an "ordinary, poor child". He earned his master's degree in Aircraft Design at
Northwestern Polytechnical University
Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU; ) is a national key public research university in Xi'an, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The university is a Chinese national Class A Double ...
in 2010, while tinkering with robotics on the side. Wang spent a year in the workforce before founding Makeblock in 2011.
Wang remains a product manager at the company. In 2013, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' China ranked Wang as one of the top 30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30.
After founding the Makeblock brand in March 2012, $23,000 was raised in a round of funding from HAX. The company received international coverage when it launched a robotics construction platform called Makeblock during December of the same year.
History
2013
Makeblock launched a crowdfunding project on
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
, becoming the first ever Chinese entity to do so.
2014
Makeblock began mBlock, officially entering the educational market in February.
2015
The first launch of mBot and mDrawbot occurred in April. By December, Makeblock's products had been sold in over 80 countries, and the brand had partnered with over 1,000 educational institutions.
2016
The first launch of mBot Ranger took place in March. In May, Makeblock became the exclusive robotics building platform of the RoPorter competition at ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
's'' Transformers event.
The first real experience store opened in Shenzhen in June, marking the company's first entry into the consumer mass market. At this stage, Makeblock products had been sold in over 140 countries and utilized in more than 20,000 schools.
Airblock was launched in October, followed by the release of mBlock in November.
2017
Makeblock Neuron was launched in March 2017. Shortly afterwards, the product won an array of internationally recognized awards including the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
Red Dot
The Red Dot Design Award is a German international design prize awarded by Red Dot GmbH & Co. KG. There are prize categories for product design, brands and communication design, and design concept. Since 1955, designers and producers can apply ...
,
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
ISDA IDEA, Good Design Award (Japan) and the
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n
K-Design Award.
MakeX a Chinese national robotics challenge for teenagers was launched in May.
In July, a partnership with
SoftBank Group
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...
heralded an official entry into the Japanese market.
This was followed by the set up of subsidiaries in the U.S., Europe, Hong Kong and Japan in August.
Codey Rocky was released in November. By December, the number of global Makeblock users surpassed 4.5 million.
2018
Makeblock raised US$44 million in Series C round with a $367 million valuation. The round was led by the
China International Capital Corporation
China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC; 中国国际金融股份有限公司) is a Chinese partially state-owned multinational investment management and financial services company. Founded in China in 1995, CICC provides investment ...
(CICC) Alpha, a subsidiary of the CICC direct investment platform.
Hardware
1.STEAM Kits
1.1 Codey Rocky
Codey Rocky is a robot aimed to helping children learn the basics of coding and AI technologies.
It is composed of two detachable parts. Codey is a programmable controller holding more than 10 electronic modules. Rocky is a vehicle that can transport Codey. It can avoid obstacles, recognize colors and follow lines.
Codey Rocky is programmable with mBlock 5 and with its use, users can better understand
Internet of things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
(IoT) technologies.
1.2 Makeblock Neuron
Makeblock Neuron is a programmable platform of more than 30 electronic building blocks. This product is targeted towards children and has color-coded blocks aimed at easier understanding.
Each of the blocks has various built-in features and can interact with each other. The kit also has IoT capability.
1.3 Airblock
A winner of four international design awards, the Airblock is a seven-module programmable
flying robot. Magnetic connectors allow the drone to be assembled in different ways. It can be controlled using Makeblock's app.
1.4 mBot Series
* mBot
Entry-level educational robotic kits
mBot is a
STEAM
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
education robot for beginners. It is a teaching and learning robot designed to teach programming. Children can build a robot from scratch and learn about a variety of robotic machinery and electronic parts. It also teaches the fundamentals of
block-based programming, and helps children to develop their logical thinking and design skills.
* mBot Ranger
Multiform land explorer
Part of the mBot series, the Ranger is aimed at users aged 8 and up. This robot kit consists of three pre-set construction forms which can be expanded with ten expansion interfaces.
* Ultimate 2.0
10-in-1 programmable robot kit
The most complex robot of the mBot series is aimed at users aged 12 and up. It includes an assembly guide of 10 designs that can be customized and adjusted. The kit contains more than 160 mechanical parts and modules, including Makeblock's MegaPi mainboard and is compatible with Arduino and
Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi () is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in association with Broadcom. The Raspberry Pi project originally leaned towards the promotion of teaching basic ...
. Along with Makeblock's block-based programming, Arduino IDE,
Node.js
Node.js is an open-source server environment. Node.js is cross-platform and runs on Windows, Linux, Unix, and macOS. Node.js is a back-end JavaScript runtime environment. Node.js runs on the V8 JavaScript Engine and executes JavaScript code ou ...
and
Python
Python may refer to:
Snakes
* Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia
** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia
* Python (mythology), a mythical serpent
Computing
* Python (pro ...
languages are supported.
There are also add-on packs.
1.5 mTiny
mTiny is an early education robot for children. Its Tap Pen Controller is a coding tool that exercises children's logical thinking and problem-solving abilities. It brings computer programming into children's lives, using coding cards and various themed map blocks to guide the child in exploring, perceiving, and creating through interactive, stimulating, games. The continuously updated mTiny toolkit also fosters children's interest in learning math, English, music, and other subjects.
1.6 Makeblock Halocode
Wireless single-board computer
Makeblock Halocode is a single board computer with built-in
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
. Designed for programming education, its design integrates a broad selection of electronic modules. Pairing with block-based programming software mBlock, Halocode offers opportunities to experience AI and IoT applications.
2. STEAM pro
2.1 Laserbox
Designed for education and creation, Laserbox re-imagines and redefines laser operating performance by the use of a high-resolution, ultra-wide-angle camera together with an AI visual algorithm. The machine can auto-identify any official material and then set up the cutting-engraving parameters accordingly.
2.2 mBuild
mBuild is the new series of electronic modules. It includes over 60 types of modules, supports infinite combinations, and can be used offline without further programming. Supported by both mBlock and the Mu Python editor, mBuild can be used to create interesting projects for beginners through to professionals. It facilitates learning the basics of programming, developing advanced projects, teaching AI and IoT, joining robotics competitions and much more.
2.3 Makerspace
Makerspace is a programmable building block platform that encompasses electronic modules, structural parts, motors and actuators, and transmission and motion parts for gadget building. Teachers can get customized Makerspace proposals for specific curriculum needs. Coupled with Scratch or text-based coding in mBlock, Makerspace helps students participate in global robotic events like MakeX.
Software
1. mBlock 5
mBlock 5 is a block-based and text-based programming software based on Scratch 3.0. mBlock 5 allows users to program Makeblock robots, Arduino boards, and micro:bit. Using mBlock 5 without any hardware, users are able to code games and
animation
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
s. The block-based code can be converted to Python code, be connected to IoT and supports AI-functionality such as face and voice recognition, as well as mood sensing. It supports various
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
s including
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
and
Windows.
2. mBlock 3
mBlock 3 is a block-based programming software based on Scratch 2.0. It interacts with Makeblock controller boards and other Arduino-based hardware, allowing users to create interactive hardware applications. The block-based code can be converted to Arduino C and supports various operating systems including macOS, Windows,
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
, and
Chromebook
A Chromebook (sometimes stylized in lowercase as chromebook) is a laptop or tablet running the Linux-based ChromeOS as its operating system. Initially designed to heavily rely on web applications for tasks using the Google Chrome browser, Chromeb ...
.
3. mBlock Blockly
mBlock Blockly allows users to learn about programming through courses designed as levels of a game. The visual programming language taught is specifically created for Makeblock's robots; the courses were designed by education professionals.
4. Neuron App
The Neuron App is a flow-based programming application with IoT support. It can control over 30 electronic modules.
MakeX Robotic Competition
MakeX is a robotics competition platform that promotes multidisciplinary learning within the fields of science and technology. It aims to promote STEAM education through Robotics Competition, STEAM Carnival, etc.
As the core activity of MakeX, the namesake MakeX Robotics Competition provides high-level competitions in the spirit of creativity, teamwork, fun, and sharing. It is committed to inspiring young people to learn Science (S), Technology (T), Engineering (E), Art (A) and Mathematics (M) and apply such knowledge in solving real-world problems.
STEAM Education
STEAM education is a learning movement that branched out of the
STEM
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
learning concept. Education professionals felt that STEM, on its own, missed critical attributes that are thought to be necessary for individuals to truly prosper in a rapidly changing modern society. STEAM encompasses the areas of Science and Technology, Engineering, the
Arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...
, along with Mathematics and encourages a merge of these fields in an attempt to suit the learning style of every type of student.
Makeblock describes itself as a proponent of STEAM and focuses on providing hardware and software products that aim to allow students to engage in practical, hands-on learning rather than the traditional main focus on theoretical knowledge.
Market Trends
Robotics education was perceived as a major trend during 2017.
References
{{Authority control
Companies based in Shenzhen
Chinese companies established in 2011
Technology companies of China
Privately held companies of China
Arduino