Robotiky

Meet Robotiky, the two-wheeled robot toy that teaches people young and old how to program.

Robotiky -- described as "Scratch meets Lego Mindstorms" -- is made up of a handful of components, including wheels, a battery pack, a microprocessor, light sensors and a "line following sensor". These all clip together using magnets. This is accompanied by online tutorials and games that allow someone with zero programming knowledge to learn how to code.


Users start with very simple drag and drop command blocks -- such as "start program", "move forward" and "turn right" -- which use natural language and slot together on screen like parts of a puzzle. Once you are comfortable with this, you can move on to create your own blocks before progressing to full code.

Wired.co.uk has tested the online simulator and it really is ridiculously accessible for anyone -- even if a child (or adult) knows no one who can teach them how to program.

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Robotiky is currently at the prototype stage, but the aim is to take absolute beginners from their first experience with programming to being confident with Python and C/C++ and microcontrollers (mbed and Arduino).

Robotiky was founded by Cambridge graduates and Entrepreneur First students Matthew Screeton and John Ginger. After having the idea, they spoke to children, parents and teachers to find out what they were looking for. They created a quick demo of the software which they then shared on their website.


Screeton told Wired.co.uk: "What we weren't expecting to happen was for teachers to start using it with their classes before the demo was even finished -- and without a robot!"

Robotiky

The team has been working towards creating a product that is ready for distribution in time for September 2014. This is when programming and robotics will be introduced to the UK's ICT curriculum. Robotiky is looking for funding on Kickstarter, in a campaign that will start on Monday 10 March.

In just three months, the founders formed a company, secured seed funding for prototypes, made the prototypes, developed the software, trialled Robotiky with children, iterated and developed a manufacturing plan. "We hope that Robotiky will be seen as a creative toy by children and a fun and engaging way of providing education by their parents. Learning shouldn't be a chore," said Screeton. "We anticipate that Robotiky will become part of children's play time; something that they want to do, not that they have to do."


He added that Robotiky is designed to inspire "the next generation of programmers, engineers and web designers" and to give "those set on other paths an understanding of this new digital world".

Robotiky isn't the first robot toy of its sort. Sphero -- a programmable robotic ball -- was one of the first robotic toys to teach programming. In December Wired.co.uk wrote about Primo, a wooden play set designed to do the same thing. The Primo kit has a friendly robot called Cubetto and a board that provides a physical programming interface, with colourful coding blocks.

You can try Robotiky's software here. From Monday 10 March you will be able to contribute to Robotiky's Kickstarter campaign.