Osmo is trying to crack AR edutainment (again)
#Osmo #AR edutainment #iPad #tangram puzzle #interactive learning #tech entertainment #Lowpass newsletter #The Verge
📌 Key Takeaways
- Osmo is revisiting its AR edutainment system, originally launched in 2014, which uses physical puzzle pieces with an iPad for interactive learning.
- The system combines tangible wood puzzle pieces with digital feedback, such as animations and sounds, to engage children in educational play.
- The article reflects on the evolution of Osmo's technology at the intersection of tech and entertainment, highlighting its early innovative approach.
- It is part of the Lowpass newsletter, syndicated for The Verge subscribers, focusing on trends in tech and entertainment.
📖 Full Retelling
This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers , a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.
I still remember the first time I tried the kids edutainment system Osmo back in 2014: I was sitting in front of an iPad, placed vertically on a white iPad stand, that showed me pieces of a tangram puzzle, its squares and triangles arranged to make a shape.
In front of the iPad were matching wood puzzle pieces strewn across the table. I went to work to re-create the shape in question with those wood pieces. When I had managed to do so, the iPad played an animation and a sound, …
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🏷️ Themes
Edutainment, Augmented Reality
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Original Source
Column Tech AR Osmo is trying to crack AR edutainment The pioneering kids AR edutainment startup is back after ex-employees bought it out of bankruptcy. The pioneering kids AR edutainment startup is back after ex-employees bought it out of bankruptcy. by Janko Roettgers Mar 5, 2026, 4:30 PM UTC Image: Osmo Janko Roettgers is a tech reporter and author of the Lowpass newsletter. This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers , a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. I still remember the first time I tried the kids edutainment system Osmo back in 2014: I was sitting in front of an iPad, placed vertically on a white iPad stand, that showed me pieces of a tangram puzzle, its squares and triangles arranged to make a shape. In front of the iPad were matching wood puzzle pieces strewn across the table. I went to work to re-create the shape in question with those wood pieces. When I had managed to do so, the iPad played an animation and a sound, and showed me a new shape to crack. This combination of digital and physical play felt like magic, especially because the physical side of it was so dead simple: In addition to the iPad and the custom white stand, Osmo only relied on analog objects — wood tangram pieces, as well as Scrabble -like letter and number tiles — forits various puzzles and other tasks. And all it took for Osmo’s apps to recognize these objects was a simple clip-on mirror that redirected the field of view of the iPad’s front-facing camera onto the table surface. Osmo’s playful use of computer vision to bridge the physical and the digital world helped the company win over many millions of fans over the years, and ultimately led to a $120 million acquisition by India’s edutech giant Byju’s in 2019. Then, Byju’s imploded amid fraud accusations — and Osmo went down with the mothership, forced to shutter operations in 2024. Now, a small group of former Omso employees is trying to bring i...
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