Kid Cartridge Story Box

Description

Do you remember those kids tape players? Didn't you LOVED the GameBoy? What's more convenient to choose your music / content than physical tapes / and cartridges? Especially for kids who need to have things in their hands but also for grownups / geeks who remember the good old time of game consoles (Gameboy for instance).
After some research, I realized that there was no kid story boxes using cartridges. The closest I could find was cards using RFID tags but requiring wifi connection.
So I decided to create my own story box and eco-system. Here is the result.

Details

Lots of « story boxes » exist on the market, this one adds the ability to upload your own content and share it with friends with physical cartridges.

Lots of «story boxes» exist on the market (Lunii, Merlin, Yoto, …), they all miss 2 things:

capacity to create / upload content
share stories between boxes

They all say:

"no wifi" but most of them use it to upload new stories
you can add your own content: but in fact, you're limited to recording yourself your own story for an app
you can share moment with your friend, but you cannot share the stories on your box, that's a shame...
kids are autonomous, but they all required parents to add new content

This one adds theses abilities:

upload content on cartridges (you can record your own stories on your PC or use contents you already have)
share and exchange it with friends / with friends, brothers and sisters, classmates…
use physical cartridge like in the 90’s with our old music tapes ;-)

Project Logs

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Kid cartridge story box v2
goguelnikov • 01/16/2024 at 23:14 • 0 comments

After a lot of work, I finished version 2 of the story box. Same cartridge system, same buttons, but I added a screen to navigate through the songs.

I used:

An ESP32

A TFT screen

A MP3 player

A USB interface

A battery charging Module

The ESP32 reads files on the USB stick when inserted, displays an image located on the drive.

I also added + / - volume buttons that where missing on V1
The inside of the cartridge
goguelnikov • 09/28/2023 at 20:18 • 0 comments

Some pictures of the inside of the cartridge based on standard 8 gb USB sticks:
The inside of the box
goguelnikov • 09/28/2023 at 20:15 • 0 comments

Some pictures of the inside of the box (a bit messy...)
3D CAD Model
goguelnikov • 09/25/2023 at 07:08 • 0 comments

Here are some of the details about the case (dimensions ar 130mm x 130mm):
the bottom part of the case with the cartridget reader:
the cartridge reader and USB plug:
The cartridge itself (dimensions are 64mm x 59mm don't ask me why...):
the inside of the cartridge:
The cartridge dock:
and the inside:
Kid cartridge story box V1
goguelnikov • 09/18/2023 at 09:01 • 0 comments
For a first version, I used a easily available MP3 playerboard:
- MP3 Player: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005002420437473.html
- this is so cheap and working so well, it'is incredible...
This board is connecte to a power bank:
- 18650 power bank: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32969695165.html
and a small 2x3W 5V amplifier:
- Amplifier: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005004226201772.html
The Amplifier board is connected to 2 loud speakers (2 because stereo is COOOOL):
- loud speakers: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005004832493500.html
and some nice buttons:
- buttons: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005001683893211.html
The wiring diagram is straight forward:

The MP3 player is connected to the power bank. The sound output of the MP3 player is connected to the input of the amplifier. The USB plug / buttons are deported to the faces of the box, also the USB-C plug to recharge the box.

And I printed :
- a nice box designed in Fusion 360
- a cartridge reader slot
- some cartridges containing a USB stick
in addition, to connect the USB cartridges to a computer or to a CD / external MP3 palyer accepting USB sticks, I designed slot with the USB extension cord.
Competition analysis
goguelnikov • 09/18/2023 at 08:36 • 0 comments
Competition analysis:
- The Loel Story Cinema: https://toppingskids.com/products/story-cinema-1?variant=39571608371255
- Lunii: https://lunii.com/fr-fr/
- Flam: https://lunii.com/fr-fr/flam-baladeur-audio-interactif/
- Yoto: https://eu.yotoplay.com/fr
- Merlin: https://www.hello-merlin.com/
- Tonies: https://tonies.com/fr-fr/
- StoriKid VTech: https://www.vtech-jouets.com/vtech/storikid-conteur-histoires-vert
- Faba: https://www.myfaba.fr/
- Maïa: https://maiasaura.life/
- LivLab Hoomkid / Hoombook: https://shop.livlab.care/products/hoomkid-boite-a-histoires-enfants-gestion-emotions?variant=48069007147357
- Disney Story Reader System (2003): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA1WwP_08KI
- Tonuino (DIY): https://www.voss.earth/tonuin

View all 6 project logs

Discussions

drcyberg wrote 01/17/2024 at 04:42

Hi!

This project is cool, but would not it be better change to SD Cards in Cartridge!?

Are you sure? yes | no

goguelnikov wrote 01/17/2024 at 20:53

USB are easier to work with on computers... and I think cheaper? maybe not that easy to connect to an ESP32 though...

Are you sure? yes | no

Jeffery Bicott wrote 09/23/2023 at 04:54

What inspired you to create your own story box and ecosystem, and what unique features or benefits does your system offer compared to traditional kids' tape players and game cartridges?

Are you sure? yes | no

goguelnikov wrote 01/17/2024 at 20:53

hello,

I wanted my kids to be able to exchange their preferred content. And be able to physically "feel" the content by manipulating it.

Other boxes have “closed” ecosystem, mine is more opened, with “blank” cartridge you can fill with your content (like blank tapes you can record).
So basically tapes or cartridges system respond to the physical aspect. The “dock” allows to connect the cartridges to a PC and upload new content.

The last part is to actually have a box nobody has ;-) and to DIY it.

Are you sure? yes | no

Kid Cartridge Story Box

Description

Details

Project Logs

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