$79 – $99 (Kickstarter)Kickstarter pledges are $79 (Super Early Bird), $89 (Early Bird) and $99 (Standard) for one kit in any of five colors, and $449 for a Classroom Pack of five kits. No retail price has been announced.
Announced onlyCoded on the robot onlyKickstarterESP32-S3Programmable controllerKit buildClassroom
Not releasedShipping: Kickstarter delivery est. Jan 2027. The Kickstarter campaign ends October 7, 2026 and is far short of its $25,000 goal, so it will most likely not fund and nothing will ship from it. No other way to order was found. Kickstarter ↗
Remote control: Programs are uploaded to the car or controller from the Arduino IDE over USB-C. Phones connect to the car's own Wi-Fi for driving and Code Lab. No live control API for laptop scripts is documented.
Overview
A build-it-yourself four-wheel coding car that comes with its own programmable handheld controller, both based on ESP32 chips. The app offers driving, color-checkpoint races, 50 missions and block coding, and the MAKIQO Academy walks through 9 car and 7 controller lessons, though its Python-style code is a teaching subset converted to Arduino rather than full Python. Assembly takes about 30 minutes with no soldering. The Kickstarter campaign had 8 backers and $697 of a $25,000 goal one day before its October 7, 2026 deadline, so it is very unlikely to fund, and FCC testing had not been done. It targets ages 10–16 and classrooms.
Specifications
| Category | Wheeled rovers · Classroom coding cars |
|---|---|
| Released | 2026 |
| Country | USA |
| Availability | Announced only |
| Crowdfunding | Kickstarter · Live campaign · 8 backers · $697 raised of a $25,000 goal · Sep 7, 2026 – Oct 7, 2026 · delivery est. Jan 2027 (as of Oct 6, 2026) Campaign ↗ |
| Programmability | Full SDK |
| Built-in autonomy | Reactive · Responds to its surroundings without a map, such as avoiding obstacles or following a person |
| LLM support | Possible via SDK · No LLM features are offered, but the ESP32 boards take Arduino sketches, so an LLM can write code for them. |
| MuJoCo simulation | None found · Nothing found. |
| NVIDIA Isaac simulation | None found · Nothing found. |
| Gazebo simulation | None found · Nothing found. |
| Best for | Ages 10+ (maker rating) |
| Vision sensors | Sonar / ultrasonic |
| Actuators | DC / gear motors |
| Audio | No audio |
| Compute type | Arduino / ESP32 / microcontroller |
| Remote control | Coded on the robot only |
| Size | Not published |
| Drive | 4-wheel skid steer, 4 N20 geared motors on 2 DRV8833 drivers, acrylic chassis |
| Compute | ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 (N8R2) on the car, ESP32-C3 in the handheld controller, linked over ESP-NOW |
| Vision | None |
| Lidar | None |
| Sensors | HC-SR04 ultrasonic distance sensor, TCS34725 color sensor, MPU6050 IMU |
| Runtime | 1200 mAh rechargeable battery with USB-C charging, runtime not published |
| Speed | Not published |
| SDK | MAKIQO app (Drive, Race, Mission and block-based Code Lab), free MAKIQO Academy lessons that turn Python-style lesson code into Arduino sketches, Arduino IDE |
Timeline
- Campaign launchedBALLI LLC launched the MAKIQO Robocar Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter ↗
- Campaign endThe MAKIQO Robocar Kickstarter campaign ends. Kickstarter ↗
- Estimated deliveryEstimated delivery to backers if the campaign funds. Kickstarter ↗
Ratings & reviews
Ratings and reviews load on the live site.
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