--- description: Find out why Sphero indi is one of the best inventions of 2021 title: Sphero indi: The 100 Best Inventions of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e28bb6e43591b2/698a1e8bdb2987b6062670de/best-inventions-2021-Sphero-Indi.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 10, 2021 # Teaching Kids to Code Sphero indi by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Margeaux Walter for TIME At its most basic level, coding is a matter of problem solving and pattern recognition. [Sphero indi](https://sphero.com/pages/sphero-indi "undefined") teaches both—no screen required. Instead, kids as young as 4 use [different-colored durable tiles](https://youtu.be/BwpOr-ig5sk "undefined") to move a robotic car from point A to point B—green tiles increasing its speed, pink tiles telling it to turn 90 degrees left, purple tiles telling it to spin and dance, and so on. “We really wanted to take these abstract concepts and bring them into the physical world,” says Jeff Wiencrot, one of the principal engineers who worked on the product. A student kit priced at $124.99 includes the car and 20 colored tiles to help kids make programming-based puzzles. _—Chad de Guzman_ **Correction, November 10** _The original version of this story misstated the material the colored tiles are made from. The tiles are no longer silicone; they are made of either latex-free rubber or paper._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2021/6112660/sphero-indi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2021/6112660/sphero-indi/"},"headline":"Teaching Kids to Code","datePublished":"2021-11-10T11:08:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:55:22.519Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2021/6112660/sphero-indi/","keywords":["list","franchise","best inventions","Best Inventions 2021"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e28bb6e43591b2/698a1e8bdb2987b6062670de/best-inventions-2021-Sphero-Indi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95e28bb6e43591b2/698a1e8bdb2987b6062670de/best-inventions-2021-Sphero-Indi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2021/6112660/sphero-indi/","name":"Teaching Kids to Code"}}]}] ```