Computer engineer and entrepreneur Almoutazar Saandi aims to make robotics and coding more accessible by lowering the barrier of entry to building your own robot. Pedro Robot Rev3 is a robotic arm that can be controlled through its buttons, Bluetooth, radio, or Wi-Fi.
Instead of using a traditional breadboard with wired elements, which may be daunting to beginner builders, Pedro Robot uses a breadboard that can be configured using plug-and-play components only. Pedro is an open-source venture where participants can modify and upgrade the design as they explore programming the robot.
There is a short video on the Kickstarter page showing the various aspects of Pedro Robot. As you scroll down, there is a story about how this venture began and what differentiates Pedro Robot and the pain point it is solving.
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/731479134/pedro-0?ref=discovery_newest&term=tools%20for%20learning&total_hits=231&category_id=338
Yes, I would invest in this venture.
The video on its own is not very compelling, though it is demonstrative of the product. However, the written pitch is clear, organized, and persuasive. He explains his purpose for the project and the pain point he is solving by beginning with the simple question of “How can we make robotics and programming accessible to everyone?”.
The pain point is that building a robot can be intimidating and expensive. He aims to solve that problem by replacing traditional wired components with a plug-and-play board which ensures the robot can be built without the use of screws, bolts, or glue. As well, most built-your-own robot kits targeted at kids have a limited ceiling because they are not very customizable and can only be used without the constraints of the robot’s programming. The creator raises the ceiling for Pedro Robot because it is open-source, which means users can change and improve upon the robot beyond what he has designed.
The creator, Almoutazar Saandi, establishes his CEO credibility by sharing his background as a computer engineer and the innovation award he won at the University of Comoros for Pedro Robot. Although there is some technical jargon in the pitch, I found the written explanations easy to follow and the technical aspects relevant to his pitch.
In this pitch, the return on investment for Kickstarter investors is simply the delivery of the robot kit itself. There is no expectation that this will generate additional investment income for investors, which I am personally okay with in this case.
No, I would not invest in this pitch. While the idea itself is interesting, I found it difficult to clearly identify the target audience and understand who would realistically use the product on a larger scale. To me, it seemed more beneficial for individuals already working in technical or industrial fields rather than the average everyday consumer. I also think the pitch could have been stronger if it demonstrated more real-world learning applications or showed how different groups, such as students, teachers, or hobbyists, would benefit from using it. Overall, the concept has potential, but I was not fully convinced about the market demand or long-term scalability.