Fisher-Price’s New Smart Bike Will Attempt to Help Tech-Obsessed Kids Get Exercise

These days, it can be hard to get tech-obsessed children to actually put their devices down and get some exercise. Fisher-Price wants to solve that problem.

The company unveiled the Think & Learn Smart Cycle at the CES 2017 trade show in Las Vegas this week. At its core, it’s a stationary smart bike with a built-in tablet stand. The idea is that the Smart Cycle should help kids get some exercise — as well as learn — while they’re using a device.

The Smart Cycle connects to a tablet via Bluetooth. At launch, it’ll include four educational apps — literacy, STEM learning, math and social studies, respectively — that require children to peddle while they’re using the apps, according to Cult of Mac. Additional apps are already in the works, and set for a release in 2018. Each app’s contents will be synced to the speed that kids are pedaling — allowing them to control the pace of learning. A dedicated dashboard will allow parents to monitor their child’s progress, DigitalTrends reported.

And it makes perfect sense. A 2015 study by the University of Iowa found that 90 percent of children know how to use a tablet by age 2. Fisher-Price’s own proprietary survey found that preschool-aged children spend as much as 20 hours a week using tablets and smart devices, or watching video content. That’s a lot of time being sedentary and not getting a healthy amount of exercise.

And the Smart Cycle won’t just be compatible with tablets, either. Along with Android, iOS and Amazon Fire support, the Smart Cycle can reportedly link to both Apple TV and Android TV. The Smart Cycle will come bundled with one app — Mission to Tech City. Each additional learning app will cost $5. The Smart Cycle will retail at $150, and should go on sale in the fall of 2017.