I would suggest respectfully engaging the Kickstarter folks in a discussion about your project. I had a hardware project rejected in the same manner, except I did not leave it at that. I engaged the KS staff, stated my case, qualifications, and had a general discussion about the project. A few days later they authorized it. In fact, I have more than one approved project in the pipeline. I have found them to be nothing but reasonable.

The project isn't up yet because my approach --having owned a hardware manufacturing business at one time-- is to have a fully engineered, DFM'd, production-ready product prior to launching the KS campaign.

I hate surprises. I've run into plenty of them in my design and manufacturing career. Things like sole-source components discontinued by the manufacturer a month before you go into production after THEY recommended we use that component and we spent eight months developing product using it.

Yes, hardware is different. That does not mean it is impossible.