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Maker/Development Robots/Drones

Root programming robot helps STEM knowledge branch out

editors-choice-300x96With the world becoming increasingly modernized, the importance of having children engage in the principles of programming as early
as possible has skyrocketed. And while it’s easy to see the financial benefits of that exposure, what’s more important is the analytical and critical thinking it develops in those young minds. This is why the Root was created.

Root is a Roomba-looking robot that focuses on teaching both kids and adults valuable programming skills. The robot itself can attach itself and navigate walls or just wander about on the floor and is equipped with a variety sensors for coders to play with. The Root’s companion app has three levels. The first has a graphical interface that non-readers can use to learn basic concepts of events, sequences, loops, states, functions, priorities, timing, program stepping and debugging.

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Kids/Babies Maker/Development

The SBrick Plus hides STEM education inside toy bricks

As a child, there’s not much better than having a full set of Legos to go to town on. As adults, there isn’t much out there as fondly remembered as the classic building blocks. Now, with the explosion of IoT technology, the SBrick Plus take clicking together plastic bricks up a notch.

The sequel to the successfully funded SBrick back in 2014, the SBrick Plus is a Bluetooth-enabled brick placed into Lego models to control them remotely using a smart device like a phone, tablet, gamepad or PC. What’s more, the SBrick Plus uses sensors from the WeDo 1.0 family that can be programmed in several languages and track variables like tilt and proximity for fun uses in model planes, for example. What the SBrick really allows for are dynamic educational experiences in the home and in the classroom, something the team behind the product facilitates with a series of lessons designed to teach the fundamentals of programming and robotics.

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Kids/Babies Maker/Development Robots/Drones

Codeybot drives a programmable wedge right into your adoring heart

The past ten years or so have seen a huge push towards STEM subjects in the United States to shore up the youth for a future society dominated by computer programming and robotics. But no matter how important the programming skills are, children w care about the future implications of learning them unless it’s fun to learn first.

Enter the Codeybot, another crowdfunded little robot designed to engage children in the fundamentals of coding from the creators of the Makeblock. What’s immediately noticeable is how its LED panel and extremely appealing, wedge-shaped single-wheel design serve to grasp the usually fleeting attention spans of children. To maintain it, children program Codeybot with an iPad app using the mBlocky language. (Sorry Android users.)

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Kids/Babies Maker/Development Robots/Drones

The Kamibot papercraft robot combines coloring and coding

Even among coders, it’s been said that the act of coding can be endlessly boring. Imagine trying to get a kid to pick it up — let alone stick with it! The key with anything worth learning is to make it fun, and that’s doubly true for little ones. The three-man team at 3.14 is trying to do just that with its Kamibot.

The Kamibot is a LED-equipped puck-like robot designed to take on a number of different papercraft costumes for a revolving door of new personalities. For adults, that’s a gimmick. For little ones, it’s like getting a brand new toy every time they print out another skin from the company’s website. Kamibot is based on an open-source Arduino technology, allowing kids to dip their toes into wirelessly coding their Dracula or robot-skinned, well, robot with the MIT-developed Scratch language — all while keeping them entertained in the process.