SAM Labs is a startup that makes app-enabled construction kits, designed for people of all ages to learn
STEM, play, and create with technology and the
Internet of Things.
The company has been featured in WIRED and The Telegraph. Founded by Belgian born CEO Joachim Horn, the company works out of their headquarters in East
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
A month-long
Kickstarter campaign initiated in October 2014 raised over $160,000, and helped launch the mass production of the kits. Backers included Jawbone co-founder
Alexander Asseily, who pre-ordered the kit.
Kickstarter campaign
On 29 September 2014, SAM Labs launched a month-long Kickstarter campaign to
crowdfund
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
the mass manufacture of the SAM kits for the spring of 2015, primarily through
pre-order
A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...
s of the kits. At the conclusion of the campaign on 29 October, SAM Labs had raised over $160,000 from 817 backers.
Products
SAM Labs produces app-enabled construction toys.
The SAM Science Museum Inventor Kit was produced in collaboration with the London Science Museum. Using the SAM Blocks and the free SAM Space app inside of the kit, kids can build awesome projects, games, inventions and hacks. Super quick. Super smart.
The company's hero kit, SAM's Curious Cars, launched in October 2016. Available now at
Barnes & Noble across the United States and
John Lewis (department store)
John Lewis & Partners (formerly and commonly known as John Lewis) is a brand of high-end department stores operating throughout the UK, with concessions also located in the Republic of Ireland and Australia. The brand sells general merchandise ...
in the United Kingdom, the Curious Cars kit allows kids to build and program their own cars and games. Winning an IFA Markit Innovation Award,
Consumer Electronics Show Award, and a KAPi award, the triple-award-winning kit also comes with its own app: Curious Cars.
Partnerships
SAM Labs has created a habit of working with local design talent. SAM Labs first partnered with
MAP Project Office, the London-based creative consultancy that specialises in industrial design, to deliver the Kickstarter campaign. Map also featured SAM Labs in a video collaboration with
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
, where SAM led modules were featured in this promotional video, covering "Technology for Exploration." The second design partnership was with
Pentagram Design Studio, to collaborate around the SAM Labs branding "that never stands still". Most recently, SAM collaborated with Hato Press and the
London Science Museum
The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019.
Like other publicly funded ...
to create the SAM Labs Science Museum "Inventor Kit".
Awards
The SAM Labs kits have received two
Design Week
''Design Week'' is a UK-based website, formerly a magazine for the design industry. It was first published in October 1986 by Centaur Communications. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations primary circulation for 2007 was 8,074. In 2011 ...
Awards: the Best of Show Award and the Interactive Design Award, the judges said: “A really cohesive design; from the elegant packaging, to the use of the product itself. An amazing use of code and education. This really steps above and beyond expected design and opens up hundreds of possibilities.”
Additionally, the SAM Labs kit have received four
Maker Faire awards by
MAKE magazine
''Make'' (stylized as ''Make:'' or ''MAKE:'') is an American magazine published by Make: Community LLC which focuses on Do It Yourself (DIY) and/or Do It With Others (DIWO) projects involving computers, electronics, metalworking, robotics, woodwork ...
: three "Editor's Choice Awards" and one "Best in Class Award".
SAM Labs was a winner at the November 2014 Pitch@Palace UK Royal competition, which saw SAM being presented at the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
in January 2015. In partnership with the Map Project Office,
SAM Labs was awarded "Best Interactive Design" in the Design Week Awards 2015. SAM Labs also became a member of the Disrupt 100 most innovative companies for educational toys.
Winner of a gold medal for the best Educational Gaming Toy in the 2016 Independent Toy Awards, SAM Labs swept up four more awards throughout Q4: a silver place for the UK Business awards for Disruptive Business model, an IFA Markit Innovation Award for Apps, Platforms & Ecosystems, Best Educational Toy in the Toy Testers awards, and a
CES Innovation award in the Tech For a Better World category.
After winning the Alphr + ITPro award for Best Startup of 2016, the company has landed a finalist position in the GESS Education Awards for 2017.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Computer companies of the United Kingdom
ARM architecture
Educational hardware
Linux-based devices
Single-board computers
Products introduced in 2013
Do it yourself
Companies based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Interface designers