Research at Purdue University funded through a National Science Foundation grant has led to development of a new kind of toy-building kit that allows children to create robots and control them remotely like a puppeteer. The new kit, called Ziro, was developed in research led by Karthik Ramani, the Donald W. Feddersen Professor of Mechanical Engineering and co-founder and chief scientist of the company ZeroUI, with locations at the Purdue Research Park and in San Jose, California. Ziro is the first commercial application of ZeroUI's gesture-based Natural User Interface technology platform. Sensors in a "smart glove" communicate with wireless motorized modules, enabling users to direct the robotic creations with the lift of a finger or flick of a wrist in real-time. Research funding was provided as part of the NSF grant to both the university as well as through the Small Business Innovation Research program, designed to move innovations from discovery to commercialization. The NSF is nurturing a national innovation ecosystem through development of technologies, products and processes that benefit society.