In the 2nd episode of this special series reporting from Shenzhen, the world centre for electronics manufacturing, I speak with Christina Zhang, the co-founder of Kittenbot.

Kittenbot make educational robot kits with motors, sensors and onboard computers, all built using open-source hardware and software. They’re built on the popular Arduino platform, and can be controlled using Scratch, a simple programming tool used in schools around the world to teach kids the fundamentals of programming with a friendly, drag-and-drop interface. But Kittenbot kits go further, also allowing users to programme them using Python, a more advanced programming language used by professional developers for ‘real-world’ tasks.

In this interview, we talk about why Christina helped set up Kittenbot, the special appeal of Shenzhen, and the secret of survival in the city’s fiercely competitive technology market.

Links

• Kittenbot on Taobao, the Chinese ecommerce site
• Programming languages and platforms: Scratch, Arduino, Python
• Chris Anderson – Makers: The New Industrial Revolution
• The “BOM”, or Bill of Materials
• Shanzhai (This is the narrative about Shanzhai which seems to be most commonly shared today. It is not uncontested.)

This podcast series is part of the British Council’s Hello Shenzhen programme. It is a Lighthouse production. Lighthouse is an arts and culture agency, based in Brighton in the UK, producing, supporting and presenting new art, film, music, design and games.

Music for this episode is by Audiobinger.