Robo Wunderkind is a modular robotics kit that wants to provide access to robotics to everybody. Whether a five-year-old child or an adult, it can be used by anyone who wants to learn more about coding
Robo Technologies believes that it is important to prepare children for their future. In the 21st century, this means teaching them basics about robotics and coding.
The Robo Wunderkind kit comprises modular cubes and comes with an intuitive, child-friendly app. So building and programming a robot is as easy as putting Lego bricks together, the company claims.
Robo is specially designed to be used in a school environment too. The company promotes the use of educational technologies, and as such, it created a specific curriculum for its robotics kit.
We spoke to Anna Iarotska, COO at Robo Technologies about how the company views the future of robotics and why there’s such a huge drive to get kids coding.
Why is it so important to get kids coding?
Coding does not only mean writing programs or getting your robot to do certain things. Coding moreover teaches the principles of problem solving and fosters out-of-the-box thinking.
Most people wouldn’t believe it but coding is a highly creative process. This is why it is so important to expose our kids to coding; we want them to grow up to be confident and innovative adults. Robo Wunderkind was created to do exactly that and to empower the next generation.
What stage are you at with its production?
We successfully completed our Kickstarter campaign in October 2015 and thanks to backers from 58 countries all over the world we are currently preparing for serial production.
Now we are in the middle of our pre-order campaign that gives early-birds the chance to get Robo Wunderkind with a discount on www.startrobo.com. Our team is thrilled to start shipping our Robo Wunderkind to children all over the planet this summer.
Will there be a time when everyone has their own personal robot and how long will it take to get to this stage?
Team Robo consists out of passionate advocates for robots. We think that robots are a crucial part of today’s technology environment and will become even more important in the future.
The outlook of everyone possessing their own robot is very exciting and realistic. In fact, it is already possible with Robo Wunderkind. Everybody can build their own robot using the modules.
Which countries and companies are pushing the idea of personal robots forward?
Japan and South-Korea are for sure leaders in the personal robot industry. The world’s first robot hotel is for example located in Nagasaki, Japan. But also the European Community launched a huge research and innovation program in robotics.
How will the personal robot industry evolve in the next five years?
At Team Robo, we think that there are two big trends in the industry. First of all the use of so-called companion robots and educational robotics systems like Robo Wunderkind.
But with an overall increase in life expectancy, robots could also care for us when we are old and can’t perform certain tasks anymore. So there’s plenty of possibilities to integrate robotics into our daily lives.
What do you think are the key barriers to robots becoming mainstream?
Right now we are in the middle of a very exciting period of time. There are many changes happening in the technology world and also robotics become more and more user-friendly.
One barrier might just be the overall scepticism towards robots and edtech tools in general.
We need to work harder to point out the advantages of tech and dispel people’s fears. We need to show that technology is nothing bad; it’s the future, and Robo Wunderkind is helping us to do so!
