RoboCo is aimed at middle school and high school students, White said. “But we’ve seen adults dive into the game because it’s so deep and complex. We’ve also tested it on some grade school kids,” he said.

Building robots in VR

White said the first stage in devising the game was to come up with “a robust tool set that lets you build any robot you can imagine.” The pieces are “like LEGO parts but with gears, blocks and pulleys,” he said.

The next task was to create scenarios that would spur players to design and build different kinds of robots and then test their robots’ skills.

“In robotics, there is a challenge. Do a pull-up, push a ball across a room, flip over another robot,” White said. RoboCo calls for virtual bots to try some more unusual exercises as well, such as putting a lively baby in a crib, cooking a fancy dinner or winning a robot dance contest.

The early robot models that players build are often klunky, White said, but as they learn, the designs become more sophisticated and functional, and players get more rewards from the game.

Over the next year, Filament will continue to develop and fine-tune RoboCo for the Oculus Quest cordless VR headset and controllers and for computer use, White said.