Frequently asked questions
Things parents ask first.
Privacy, hardware, what Koda can and can't do today. If you don't see your question, drop a note via the waitlist and we'll answer it.
The basics
- What is Koda?
- An AI tutor for kids, Pre-K through 8th grade — multi-subject and multi-skill. It sits on your kitchen counter, watches a real paper worksheet, and helps with math, reading comprehension, spelling, science, and the focus-and-movement skills underneath. Math is the deepest catalog and the launch focus (grades 2-5). Your child writes on paper or works hands-on. Koda asks questions and points at what's working — never gives the answer.
- What subjects does Koda cover?
- Math (the deepest coverage at launch), reading comprehension, spelling, science, and PE focus warmups — guided movement breaks and short executive-function exercises drawn from the EF literature. Each subject's catalog deepens over time via software updates; the math catalog leads, and the cross-grade subjects round out every grade.
- What grades does Koda cover?
- Pre-K through 8th grade. Math has the deepest catalog at launch (188 short explainer videos for grades 2-5, mapped to Common Core); Pre-K, 1st, and 6th-8th grade math expand over time. Reading, spelling, science, and PE focus warmups ship with starter content and round out every grade. We won't ship a grade we can't tutor well, so the bar moves up rather than the catalog filling out at every level on day one.
- Does Koda work without internet?
- After setup, yes. Reasoning, voice, and video all run on the device in your home. You only need a connection for software updates.
- Does it replace a human tutor?
- No. Koda is honest about what it is — an AI tutor that's there every day, that doesn't cost $80 an hour, and that's still narrower than a great human. If your child works with a human tutor, Koda fills the gaps in between.
- Where can I read more about how you think about all this?
- We've written longer notes on the three load-bearing decisions: paper-first pedagogy, on-device architecture, and what works for ADHD math homework. The research index at /research is the canonical place to find them.
Privacy and the camera
- Is the camera always on?
- When a session is running, yes. The mic and camera are off by default outside sessions, and there is a hardware-visible recording light. Frames never leave the device.
- Is anything sent to the cloud?
- No reasoning, no voice, no frames. The language model runs locally on the device. The only thing that goes online is the software updater, and you control when that runs.
- Where does my child's data live?
- On the device in your home. Voice settings, progress, and event logs live in a single local database; enrollment photos are stored as image files in the local profiles directory. Delete a profile and both the database rows and the photo files are removed. There is no cloud copy because there is no cloud.
- Is Koda COPPA-compliant?
- Yes. A parent account is required, your child's data is processed locally, and we collect the minimum needed to run the tutor.
How Koda teaches
- Can my child get the answer from Koda?
- No. Koda climbs a hint ladder — first noticing, then a question, then a similar smaller problem, and finally a short explainer video. The pencil stays in your child's hand.
- What does the curriculum cover?
- Place value, arithmetic, fractions, decimals, early algebra. Mapped to Common Core. 188 short explainer videos ship with Koda, drawing on five teaching angles (concrete, number line, area, standard algorithm, word problem). Up to three angles per topic today; software updates add more.
- Why paper and a camera instead of a tablet?
- Most kid-facing math products ask the child to look at a screen. Cognitive-science research on handwriting (Mueller & Oppenheimer 2014; James & Engelhardt 2012) points the other way for elementary math, where 2-D notation, visible scratch work, and drawing manipulatives are part of the curriculum. The paper-first note has the longer version.
- What if my child has ADHD, dyscalculia, dyslexia, dysgraphia, or autism?
- Set the support flag at enrollment and Koda picks safe defaults. Wired today: dyslexia-friendly font and 75% animation speed (dyslexia); 10-minute focus chunks (ADHD, autism); 15-minute focus chunks (dyscalculia); per-profile volume slider. The remaining flag-specific defaults (animations-off, celebration-intensity, learning-mode-by-default for dyscalculia, voice answers for dysgraphia) are dialed in the parent portal; their session-runtime hookup arrives in software updates. You can tune any setting in the parent portal. The PE focus warmups subject — short executive-function exercises — ships with starter content and grows over time.
- Are there streaks or leaderboards?
- No streak counter ships. No leaderboards. No comparisons to other kids. Effort earns XP, not just correct answers, and the XP is your child's only.
Hardware and setup
- What's in the box?
- A device that drives a TV or monitor, plus the cameras Koda needs to see the worksheet and the child. We're still finalizing the exact hardware configuration before launch — join the waitlist and we'll send the specifics when they're decided. Setup, regardless of the final form, is a few minutes.
- Can I run Koda on hardware I already own?
- Yes — if you have a recent Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) and 16+ GB of RAM, Koda installs and runs there. Pair it with any two USB webcams and you're set. The Koda bundle is the simplest path; BYOD is for families who already have suitable hardware and want to avoid a second purchase. We'll publish the verified-hardware list with the launch email so you can check first. Same Koda software, same updates, same on-device privacy on either path.
- What does the device need?
- Power, a screen (any TV or monitor), and a Wi-Fi connection for software updates. After initial setup, sessions don't require an internet connection — every minute of tutoring runs locally. The same is true for BYOD — the only thing the cloud is needed for is software updates, and you control when those run.