Robotics report: The circuit-breaking stars of Bett 2024
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Like AI, robotics is another emerging tech field that shows immense potential for use in education.
Expanding beyond the walls of engineering courses, these mechanical companions are sharing classrooms with learners of all ages. For example, in Iran, a robot served as a teacher's assistant in an English language class for 12-to-13-year-olds, providing feedback and correcting pronunciation. After a five-week period, students in the class with the robot not only found the class more enjoyable but also acquired more vocabulary compared to a class taught solely by a teacher.
With use cases ranging from hands-on lessons in STEM subjects to enhancing social and emotional learning, it’s little wonder that the exhibitor stands with robots at Bett were buzzing. Here are four robots that stood out at the show, and how they can help students and teachers across subjects and ages:
A finalist at the Bett Awards, the Sphero BOLT shows that learning about electronics robotics, STEM, and programming doesn’t have to feel like a lesson in equations. The Sphero BOLT is a versatile robotic ball which students can program to move: avoiding obstacles, interacting with other BOLTs, rolling in paint, and creating artwork with its tracks.
Robots like the Sphero BOLT offer an effective way of gamifying learning – equipping learners with valuable technical skills through direct, engaging activities that feel less like lessons, and more like playtime.
Another finalist at the Bett Awards, this small robotics kit introduces learners to programming through Python.
With a range of modules including a temperature and humidity sensor, push button, RGB LED screen, a light sensor and a buzzer, learners can design, build and program devices capable of any number of tasks. Turning on the bedroom light in the morning, starting a coffee maker, or watering plants, this little board is a lesson in the immense capabilities of combining a few small electronics.
From UBTECH, the company that set the world record for the largest choreographed robot dance routine, UGOT is another robotics kit. However, in place of individual single-task devices, learners create and program seven different multifunctional robots.
Seeing a kit of wires, wheels and modules come together to form robotic pets, spiders or all-terrain vehicles is an impactful lesson in robotics for learners of all ages. Moreover, UGOT kits can be further programmed, combining the hard tech skills of piecing together hardware with cutting-edge fields like programming and AI.
Another entry from UBTECH, Yanshee the robot looks like a small transformer and acts like a one-stop robotics class.
Interestingly for educators, Yanshee comes equipped with educational apps, an extensive curriculum and a developer platform. With Yanshee, students can develop skills in areas such as machine vision, machine learning, motion control and programming, including Java, C/C++, Perl and Python. Catering to learners from different skill levels, this single tool can accompany a student from grasping the basics of robotics to honing advanced skills.
These were just a handful of the innovations and solutions on display at Bett 2024, and a glimpse of what the future could hold for the field in education. As classrooms embrace the fusion of robotics and education, we can look forward to a future where students are not just learners but creators of the next generation of technology.
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