Ozobot will release the new Ozobot Evo in a couple weeks. This tiny robot works out of the bot and makes learning code a gamified and social experience. Photo Caption: The latest Ozobot Evo using sensors to move around pictures placed underneath it. (via Ozobot)
I have seen so many robots, kits, and gadgets pointed towards children and novices alike promising to make coding fun and easy. I’ll try to guess how fun and effective the latest Ozobot Evo may become, but I must say that it certainly gets points on being ready to go right out of the box. It can explore autonomously and has sensors to prevent it from bumping into things. It can also run along any path that you draw and place underneath it. The Evo can also change colors and make sounds with a speaker.
Judging from the YouTube video from the creators, you can turn the Evo on, download the Ozobot smartphone app, and start playing right away with absolutely no experience. Of course, kids would need a smartphone, tablet or another device that supports the application to fully control and benefit from the experience; but kids may be handed iPhones directly out of the womb these days.
The creators of the Ozobot company, which has many similar robots geared towards play and education, wanted to create a robot that was more social and gamified. Their idea seems to try to incentivize children to learn robotic technology and coding through fun games and social aspects that would allow the Evo to enact certain emoji that friends can send to other Evos around the world through an in-app messaging system. You can also mirror your Evo’s movements to other friends as a way of sharing or sending a message in robot dance form.
I must say that the idea of having a cute little robot that acts out emoji, dance, and whatever you want sounds so cute that I may explode — especially since the Evo looks like BB8. But is this robot just fun and games without much learning? So far, it’s hard to say. There are definitely opportunities for kids and adults alike to learn to code using a graphical interface and some of the games seem to teach programming skills. However, how many kids will actually use these features?
On the one hand, I like that this product makes robots fun from the get-go. In a way, it may cause excitement that will motivate kids to actually go through the hard part and learn coding. Also, if children take the initiative to learn something then they may retain the information longer and associate coding with positive experiences. In this way, many other kits on the market force kids to learn coding and hardware skills before anything fun can happen – like building your own remote controlled car.
According to all media on the Evo, this new robot is also trying to capture an older audience of high school and college students, and older. However, I think their website is still very geared towards children and teachers at the moment. The Ozobot Evo is currently available for pre-order at $99 each. If you have the spare cash around, then this little gadget looks like it may be fun — and who knows, you just may learn something.
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