Learn the muggle magic of coding with a Harry Potter wand

This wand will teach you the magic of coding.

Arthur C. Clarke may have said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, but sometimes making even simple tech look like magic is fun. 

To this goal, Kano Computing is collaborating with Warner Bros Entertainment, which owns the rights to the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter, to create a coding kit using lore from the beloved British magic book series. 

"It's important to integrate technology with excellent stories, services, and content so that people can riff on them, and make them do something new. It shouldn't just be code for code's sake," says Kano Computing communications and product marketing head David Ortiz, in a blog post.

Harry Potter Kano Coding Kit lets users build a wireless wand and teaches them to code by creating spells, offering over 70 challenges inspired by the Wizarding World.

"First, you follow a step-by-step manual and build a wand. Then you learn about sensors, data, and code along the way. The wand combines a gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer to detect its own location and speed in tri-dimensional space, making it capable of tracking your hand movement," says Ortiz. 

These sensors also allow the wand to place a cursor on the screen of a tablet with the Kano app to capture movements and turn them into rich effects, like making serpents slither, toads transfigure, fires flow, or feathers float.

He says the challenges provided will teach the basics of coding and introduce concepts of real-world programming through a block-based interface and JavaScript inspector.

The coding kit also connects users with the Kano World online community, where users can make, share, and play with art, music, and games made by users from 86 countries.

"With over 247,000 members, 620,000 creations and 55 million lines of code, Kano World is a thriving free, creative community that lets you see the code behind any piece of artwork, song, game or app and tweak it to make it your own," says Ortiz.

The kit is designed to work with most tablets running iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac OS.

In addition to the wand, the kit also includes a poster that illustrates classic Wizarding World spell motions such as Incendio, Stupefy, and Wingardium Leviosa plus stickers inspired by the Wizarding World.

It is available for pre-order on the product's site for US$99.99 (RM405) and will go on sale worldwide by Oct 1

Kano Computing started as a Kickstarter campaign in Nov 2013 to launch the mass production of a DIY computer kit designed to help users of all ages assemble a computer themselves while learning basic coding skills.