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RoboticsDesign complete (stages 1–6, rev A), not built, not piloted

IEMI Gecko Classroom Kit

A print-it-yourself AI-vision robot that high-school classes build, code and train

Gives a CS or engineering teacher a ready 6-week unit on real AI hardware: students print and build a desk lizard, code it in blocks or MicroPython from a Chromebook, and teach it to recognise things on the robot itself.

Who buys it
A high-school CS/CTE teacher or makerspace lead, paying from a department or STEM grant budget. Users are students aged 13 and up.
Why it pays
A 6-robot AI unit costs $949 in year 1 and $299 a year after that. Six LEGO SPIKE Prime sets cost about $2,400 with no camera AI, and an 18-bot Ozobot Evo kit costs $2,990 (est., list prices).
Target price
$169 kit (school prints the body) · $949 Classroom 6-Pack incl. year-1 curriculum · $299/classroom/year after (target)
First-minute wow
In lesson 1 a student plugs one USB-C cable into a Chromebook, presses Connect, and Gecko looks up and nods at their face. There is nothing to install.
See the CAD designConcept page
IEMI Gecko Classroom Kit concept: the idea and where each part goes
The concept. The CAD design is below, under Printable CAD.

What the research found

And how this design answers it

  • Companion robots die (Anki, Jibo, Kuri) → sold as a classroom lab kit with a syllabus, not a personality; no cloud, so kits keep working whatever happens to IEMI
  • Petoi Bittle X ($279+) ships a free curriculum → Gecko teaches computer vision and on-robot machine learning instead of walking, at $169
  • Schools run locked-down Chromebooks → the block editor is a static web page that talks to the robot over USB (Web Serial); no installs, no school Wi-Fi
  • The ML lessons would need a Python training toolchain → few-shot learning runs on the robot (embedding model + nearest-neighbour), so students train in seconds
  • A Li-ion pack for kids brings shipping and safety certification → no battery in the box; 5 V USB-C only, with a 3 A fuse
  • Servos and fingers → low-torque SCS0009 bus servos, firmware torque cap and stall release, a TPU tail, and no gaps between 4 and 10 mm at moving joints

Use case

A 6-week AI unit in a high-school CS class

CS teacher24 students in pairsSchool IT

  1. 01Trigger: the district adds an AI unit to the CS course
  2. 02Build: the library printer prints 12 bodies, and pairs assemble Gecko in one 45-minute lesson with a screwdriver
  3. 03Code: students move to Blockly, then Python, using servo sequences, touch events, and face tracking with a control loop
  4. 04Learn: students teach Gecko their own classes, measure accuracy, find bias from lighting and backgrounds, and present on demo day
  5. 05Grade: the teacher exports auto-check results to CSV; nothing is stored online

Outcome: A full hands-on AI unit for $1,898 in year 1 against about $4,800 for 12 SPIKE Prime sets without vision (est.)

How it works

Architecture

  1. 01

    See: OV5647 camera into the K230D NPU (face detector and embedding model), about 15 fps target

  2. 02

    Decide: a MicroPython runtime with a behaviour arbiter (safe > lesson > react > desk mode) and a joint-limited motion planner

  3. 03

    Act: 5 bus servos (neck pan and tilt, tail, two push-up legs), a 240×240 animated face, and an I2S speaker

  4. 04

    Teach: an offline web editor (Blockly + Python) over USB Web Serial, signed lesson packs, and a teacher CSV export

Hardware

Real parts, buyable today

Bill of materials: about $164 per robot at qty 1 (prototype, breakouts) and about $110 at qty 100 with the JLCPCB carrier (est.), plus about 180 g of PETG the school supplies.

BlockPartWhy this part
AI brainBanana Pi BPI-CanMV-K230D-Zero (Kendryte K230D)A real NPU at Pi Zero size for about $29–40, with CanMV MicroPython
CameraOV5647 5 MP, 2-lane MIPI-CSICheap and documented, with standard M2 mounting
FaceWaveshare 1.54" ST7789 240×240 IPSExpressive eyes on an SPI bus, $10.83
Motion5 × Feetech SCS0009 serial bus servosOne daisy-chain cable, position read-back for auto-check lessons, low torque for safety
PowerUSB-C 5 V 3 A (listed Pi 15 W PSU) + 3 A PTC + TVS on the carrierNo battery to certify; the firmware keeps the peak load under 2.5 A

Mechanical

Printable CAD

8 parts, generated from code and checked as closed solids. Pick a part to inspect it, or download the STL files to print.

See the CAD parts render
IEMI Gecko Classroom Kit printable parts, rendered from the CAD
Render of the printable parts from the actual CAD. Not yet printed or photographed.

Loading the CAD…

Real CAD · drag to rotate · scroll to zoomReal CAD · swipe sideways

Open risks we are working on

  • Demand: districts may not pay $299 a year to a one-person vendor when Petoi's curriculum is free. The kill test: 3 of 10 Austin CS teachers must commit to a paid pilot by Q1 2027
  • Toolchain: compiling the face and embedding models needs nncase (Python, x86 Linux), and the lab is Node-only
  • Board supply and software maturity: a single-source BPI-CanMV-K230D-Zero, whose header pin-mux and camera driver are unverified
  • SCS0009 torque at 5 V, its case dimensions and its US price are unverified until the first servos are measured
  • Regulatory: CPSIA status at ages 13+, FCC Part 15B for the carrier, and a school data-privacy agreement still need confirming

Design stage only: nothing on this page is for sale. Specifications and prices are targets.