A robot that teaches young children how to code has just won the award for “most promising robot” in Central and Eastern European by the European Business Angels Network – an organisation that identifies the best investment opportunities in Europe.
Photo, developed by Photon Entertainment has created the pint-sized robot to help young children learn how to code. It’s only available in selected territories at the moment – including its native Poland, Sweden, Singapore, and Australia, where it’s available in store licensed to sell Apple goods.
Although there are lots of robots that claim to help youngsters learn how to code, the majority of them are aimed at older children – 12 and above. What sets Photon apart is that it’s been created for 5 to 12 year olds. Some children in China using Photon are in preschool.
“When we pull the robot out of the box … it can not do anything at all,” according to the company. “Children must help him learn everything from scratch — how he moves, what colors he has, and how he interacts with the environment using various sensors.”
The next step for Photon is to launch in other territories round Europe, including possibly, the UK.
The idea came about when four students and a lecturer from Białystok University of Technology decided there needs to be more innovation in the field of children’s robotics. They set about designing a robot that could use sensors to see, hear and touch, identify the difference between light and dark and even measure distance.
Photon will go head-to-head with other robots that are taking aim at the education market, including Cubetto and even Lego’s modular robot learning system that makes it easy to create a personalised ‘bot from the building bricks.
