Antwerpen, Belgium – Funky Bots, an innovative new kids app that allows players to create their own space robot dances and set them to swipes and taps was just chosen by Apple the #1 Best New Kids App in the US, Canada, China, Australia and Mexico. Funky Bots creator Rosa Mei developed the app around the concept of open-ended play for kids. One year ago, Mei, a professional choreographer, had never even used an app, but was inspired to make apps for her toddler twins to help them “feel the beat and dance forever.” The Funky Bots are part of an interactive animated music video featuring eight original tracks by Ethan Beatz and French beatboxer Teddy Guilbaud. Perfect for all ages, the app lets kids play with dancing bots and create their own cool robot dances.

With this innovative new app, kids can explore the cool Funky Bots universe and play with dancing robots who know how to groove. They create their own dance moves for Kamky, Tekzilla, Uncle G and other members of the Funky Bots crew and set them to swipes and taps. They choose the perfect soundtrack to match their dances, all the while keeping it fresh and funky.

After releasing the app late August, Mei was stunned to see her Funky Bots at the top of the iTunes store two weeks later as the #1 Best New Kids App in the United States. “I was shocked and ecstatic. I ran to the living room and my toddler son started stomping his feet and jumping up and down to imitate me.” Mei’s company (also called Funky Bots) is an indie development firm of one person.

“My office is a closet in our apartment in Prague that I converted into a tiny Dilbert cubicle. Maya, the programmer I work with, lives in Bulgaria. We’ve never even met in real life. We just send send each lots of files and Skype a lot, and now we’ve made the a top kids app.”

In fact, the dynamic duo, already had success with their first collaboration BoomKLAKers, a toddler app that was chosen as Best New App in 108 countries. “We thought we beat the odds with BoomKLAKers and wanted to make something that was even better and gave kids more room to create and make their own dances. I’m always amazed at how kids have an innate ability to think out of the box. I think this is often because they don’t even realize that the box exists, so there’s no limit to the quirkiness of their creations.”

Choreographer Rosa Mei created the app and based all the eight members of the Funky Bots crew (cartoon space robots) on her real life dance company and family. “All the FB characters really are family to me. The guys in my dance company – poppers, bboys, beatboxers and rappers – have performed with me all over the world for 10 years now. Those are the characters Uncle G, Kamky, Champion and Boom Chak. They are my crazy bros. Tycho and Tekzilla are my twins who are now almost 2. My husband was a competitive skateboarder as a kid so I named his bot Thrasher in honor of the epic skate magazine. And I am Mz. Erratik because I am nothing but…”

Mei wanted to create an app with open-ended play. “I really hope the kids who play with Funky Bots will make up wild, crazy dances for every swipe and tap. They can make robot heads orbit around the body. The bots can move tai chi slow or spaz out and freak the beat. There are endless possibilities for play, and the kids can get so much effect by just rotating an arm angle, changing the movement of the hips or varying the tempo of the movements. They can also play with the monitors on the spaceships and make rockets fly. I hope kids have a lot of fun with this app.”

Funky Bots features eight original sound tracks by French beatboxer Teddy Guildbaud and Congolese sound producer Ethan Beatz. The music is not the typical stuff you find in kids apps. The first track “Galactic Funk” for example, is a funkstyle remix of the kids classic “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Says Mei, “Kids like being cool and hip. Hip and funny is key.”

As the Funky Bots hop from planet to planet, players can watch Uncle G practice his moves on his spaceship then zoom in the monitor to see Mz. Erratik dancing at the shopping mall in outer space. Tapping and swiping the screen triggers new robots dances in a cool, intergalactic playground.

Features:
* Cool, funky robots dancing in outer space
* A dance editor that lets you create your own dances for all the Funky Bots and set them to swipes and taps
* 8 original soundtracks featuring cool funk style music, beatbox, flute and sax
* Perfect for kids of all ages: toddlers can play with dancing robots and older kids can create new dances, endless possibilities
* No third party ads or in-app purchases

Funky Bots is the second app by Rosa Mei, whose goal is to create a suite of apps that show kids how to “feel the beat and dance forever.” Their first app BoomKLAKers, made for toddlers, was featured in the App Store as Best New App in 108 countries and also went to #1 in 23 countries.

Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
* Requires iOS 6.0 or later
* Optimized for iPhone 5
* 46.4 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Funky Bots – Dancing Space Robots 1.1 is $2.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Entertainment category.

Funky Bots 1.1
Purchase and Download
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
App Icon

Based in Antwerpen, Belgium and Los Angeles, USA, Funky Bots was founded in 2014 by Rosa Mei. The Funky Bots team is made up of professional performing artists who are also parents who want kids everywhere to know and love movement and music. Rosa Mei is a choreographer, dancer and martial artist. Artistic Director of Cie 13 (Belgium), she holds an MFA in dance and speaks seven languages. In New York, she created designs for the NBA, NY Knicks, MSG and MTV. In Europe, she has made over 30 pieces for stage and performed in 22 countries throughout the world. She is a proud mother of twins. Originally from Nantes, France, Teddy Guilbaud is a beatboxer extraordinaire, percussionist and jazz musician. He is also a mad slam and rap artist. In addition to his collaborations with Cie 13, he also creates music for Cirque Equinoctis (an equestrian circus). The programming team behind Funky Bots consists of Maya Milusheva and Mihail Minkov, founders of Plushie Games in Sofia, Bulgaria. They are superstars in the underground hacking community. (C) 2014 Funky Bots LLC / All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPod, the iPod logo, are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.