Is using Robotics in the classroom justifiable?

STEM education still holds one of the most important positions among the various genres of education. This could partly be attributed to the fact that most high-paying jobs are awarded to candidates from STEM fields. Even schools can be assumed as driving factors towards this purported tilt towards STEM. Many efforts are undertaken by schools to bring effective STEM education for middle-school and high school students, but research shows that introducing STEM early plays a key role in cognitive development and interest in the subjects later on. Much of math and science courses in schools are theoretical, and elementary school teachers are paving the way to look for engaging ways to bring STEM to life in their classrooms.

Robotics in the classroom:

In elementary school, students are learn with their eyes and hands – drawing, molding, and manipulating objects. They slowly transition from the process of manipulating objects to learning more about them by reading. 

To help with the same, teachers focus on inquiry-based learning to make these subjects comprehensible and interesting for students. This method of training helps teachers provide students with facts that they can assimilate. However, this way of training has its own shortcomings. Students who may be found wanting in cognitive skills may find it hard to visualize hard concepts in STEM such as Physics and electronics which happen in environs that are not easy imaginable. 

Using a fun platform such as robotics in these subjects would allow teachers to make curricular connections. This would allow them to justify teaching subjects like computer science, a subject that is currently required in only a handful of regions.Robotics makes it easy to learn such subjects

In such an environment, using robotics kits would be ideal. Although choosing the ideal kits should be a task onto itself. Not all robotics kits require many hours of building to get started, and others work right out of the box. Some robotics kits are just about plug and play. They work right out the box and do not actually have a construction theme behind them. Such kits defeat the purpose of learning.

This is where Kidobotikz kits come into play. In developing our kits we prioritized ease-of use-and created a learning scheme that is the right mix of fun and learning. This we kids are both entertained and engaged by the learning process.

Happy roboting!

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Learning through the internet: The SOLO way

“Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is a pedagogical approach wherein learning takes place via social interaction using a computer or through the Internet. This kind of learning is characterized by the sharing and construction of knowledge among participants using technology as their primary means of communication or as a common resource. CSCL can be implemented in online and classroom learning environments and can take place synchronously or asynchronously.”

This is what Wikipedia calls for “learning off the internet”. But, we just like to call it SOLO- See Online Learn Offline.  We at Kidobotikz came up with this fancy terminology. It rightly sums up the kind of environment we have created for our students.

SOLO learning, even as the acronym suggests, is anything but “solo”. It tries to take a pedagogical approach where an individual student is introduced to an ecosystem of learning and competition via an online platform. This online platform has one role and one role alone. It aims to emulate the experience of a classroom environment onto the online world.

Today’s education is rapidly evolving. The explosion of content is so far-reaching that traditional teaching methods do not simply hold up to the pace at which students are required to learn. Concepts that were meant to be read by college going youngsters are today invariably forced to be learned by younger students in their school.

Concepts of physics, chemistry, electronics, algorithm and programming are introduced to students as young as 13. While the fact that these students are introduced such diverse subjects is one that we can take pride in, it would be imprudent to expect them to understand these concepts at the pace of our desire. Traditional classroom education fails to cater to the variation in learning ability of different kinds of students. Students cannot learn at their own pace in a classroom – teachers are perceived to be fast for some people while being slow for others.

However, Internet, the great equalizer, is capable of being the vast canvas over which subjects of our choice can be brought to life. The advent of video sharing websites such a YouTube and Vimeo have shown that people tend to favour learning via observation of videos. This appeals to their curiosity and entertainment alike. Students these days are also increasingly taking to the internet to learn. The depth of content means that they have a lot of choice to learn from.

But the great question is how much relevant is all this content to the contemporary formal education. There needs to be a platform where students not only find content to learn, but are also able to collaborate with others who are learning the same thing. Afterall, this is what school education is all about.

We at Kidobotikz believe we have emulated this. Our online platform which students gain access to is aimed at ensuring that students are engaged in the learning process at speeds that their school education may not be imparting them with. With robotics as a platform, students get to experience the best of core engineering subjects such as physics, mechanics, algorithm, programming in a manner that school education simply cannot cope with. The presence of animated videos means that students can now comprehend every concept and learn how it works. The online platform is gamified in such a way that learning can now happen in an entertaining experience that was hitherto only the forte of computer games.

Happy Roboting!

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Why robotics kits should be a part of the school bag!

School bags (or Backpacks, depending on which part of the world you live) are the ubiquitous students’ commodity that are predominantly associated with school goers. These articles of nylon and fabric material are always conceived as a symbol of pride in a society. This connection is somewhat obvious considering the fact that more students who visit schools are a sign of a healthy nation, one that gives value to its children’s education.

However, of late, the humble school bag is no longer viewed with such a pleasant outlook. It is viewed as a symbol of proverbial “burden” that young school students are harried with. With increasingly long school hours and excruciatingly tougher subjects, students today can be metaphorically linked to “beasts of burden” who are banished to carry increasing loads of concepts. What makes the burden unbearable is the fact that students like oxen are not aware of the true value of toil they indulge themselves. Just like the oxen who are not aware of the real fruits of labour which end up in bountiful harvests, students indulge in endless chores of rigorous learning for which they are quite unaware of the benefits.

Education, in particularly STEM, is a valuable element of students’ curriculum. It helps students actually realize their dreams of becoming personnel of the engineering, medicine and science stream. However, a majority of students who learn these concepts do not understand the true potential of their subjects. Subjects of the science and math stream which students come across in their formative years are just looked at as obstacles littered along the path to realizing true as opposed to the fact that these are important areas of study which would improve the perception and scientific acumen of students. 

A rather pitiable truth is the fact that this mindset, which is usually viewed at as a product of generation gap, still persists largely through the Indian society with parents and teachers increasingly encouraging students to get done with the school subjects to pursue dreams of their own. What would’ve been desirable is if these parents and teachers encouraged students to look at these subjects as tools of knowledge that could improve their perspectives it would provide students with the right track to pursue and not view their courses with animosity. 

What role do robotics kits play in such an environment?

Robotics as a multidisciplinary field is at the forefront of core technologies. By including concepts from mechanics, electronics, computer science etc. in its pre-requisties, the field of robotics represents the true synergy between subjects which students learn as a part of their STEM curriculums at schools. With such significance attached to the subject, it is imperative that it is introduced in the classroom environment.

The use of robotics in education can be considered as two-tined.

a) The application of robotics in a classroom environment, where teachers who are conducive to the advantages of using robots, creatively fit usage of robots or robotic kits into the existing curriculum. 

b) The usage of robots or robotic kits in school robotics clubs, where dedicated instructors supervise interested students in their free time.

This would be made possible if the school bag was reshuffled to accommodate a purpose robotics kit into the school bag. Such a usage would actively make education entertaining and less of a burden for the young minds and would make lugging around bags easier and purposeful for the innovators of tomorrow.

We at Kidobotikz believe that STEM education should be stemmed in the minds of young ones as a fun experience rather than one that they view as burden. Our purpose designed kits which can slide into school bags with ease can make learning a joyous experience.

Happy Roboting ! !

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Robotics education as a tangential learning platform

credits: Extra Credits

For those of you who have read the title, most of you are already in discomfiture and are wondering why does the word “Tangential” figure in a write up related to learning. Well, for starters, Tangential learning is a process by which people indulge in self-education if a topic is exposed to them in a context that they already seem to enjoy. Some valid instances could involve examples, where we could watch a movie praising classical music and then be motivated to learn more about the history of that artform. Scientists have observed this method of learning as an effective means of education with high retention rates.

This form of tangential learning is rather involuntary and represents innate curiosity in us learners. Not just movies, even other forms of activity such as watching documentary, visiting art galleries and playing video games could draw us to the context and make us better learners in that particular context. While this is an interesting means for learning, there is no such contemporary in mainstream education. Mainstream education does not provide with enough such avenues where kids can take a break from the rigorous routine and explore newer concepts in their area of choice. This means that the curiosity and love for learning is curbed in its buds and students are forced to stick to the trodden path in learning. 

A rudimentary exploration of existing processes reveals that tangential learning from mainstream education hasn’t existed and a major reason for the same could be the fact that mainstream education system does not incentivize such activities undertaken by children. This is something that has an adverse impact on student curiosity levels, and in some cases happiness levels too.

Mainstream education which is bogged down by its desire to impart parity in education fails to provide with scope or time for students to explore their areas of interest. Even if there exist courseware for students to pursue and explore within the outreach of their subjects, students are actively discouraged from leaving the existing track. This means that budding engineers and scientists cannot specialize in their areas of interests such as electronics or astronomy or roboting in their school lives and have to wait for the completion of their undergrad and postgrad studies before they can move on to pursue their passions.

We at Kidobotikz are not partial to this bias towards learning. We believe that tangential learning should never be inhibited whatever be the age of the candidate. He or she deserves to explore his/her area of interest even if he is not institutionally qualified to pursue high technology concepts. Our kits have been designed to give students a taste of high technology concepts in engineering and robotics. Students can pursue several interesting concepts such as electronics, mechanics, programming while they are still in their schooling years. Our platform has been designed to democratize such core technologies to the comprehensible level of school students. This we believe is our bit towards tangential learning. 

Happy roboting ! ! 

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Why every kid should be a part of the Maker Movement. . !

The Maker Movement, which has been claimed, to be a technology-oriented creative learning revolution underway around the globe. It has far reaching vast implications in the field of education. New tools and technology, such as 3D printing, robotics, microprocessors, wearable computing, e-textiles, “smart” materials, and programming languages are being churned out at an unprecedented pace. The Maker Movement enables users to share tools and ideas on the internet and create a vibrant, collaborative community of makers and hackers who provide solutions to tech problems plaguing our world.

Fortunately for educators, the Maker Movement presents with an interesting opportunity as it overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing. By embracing the lessons of the Maker Movement, educators can restructure the best student-centered teaching practices to engage learners of all ages.

Time and again, activities such as robotics and 3D fabrication have been subjected to marginalization as mere hobbies and not actual education. However, today’s new low-cost, flexible, creative, and powerful materials offer more than just “hands-on” crafting—these tools bring electronics, programming, mechanics and mathematics together in meaningful, powerful ways. It is prudent that we reimagine school science and math not as a way to prepare students for the next academic challenge, or a future career, but as a place where students are inventors, scientists, and mathematicians today.

Individual tenets of the maker revolution such as robotics are potentially capable of making science hands-on and interesting to young minds. They incentivise the learning drive and spirit by providing instant gratification to the creators. Engaging in constructive learning activities such as building robots is a way of bringing engineering to young learners. 

Tinkering is a powerful form of “learning by doing,”. It is a philosophy espoused by the rapidly expanding Maker Movement community and many educators. Real science and engineering is done through tinkering. Even the Indian concept of Jugaad follows some of these principles. 

With such a strong backing to inculcate children to be makers, it will be wise if parents and educators took the whole “learning by building” seriously and provide their young ones with tools to tinker on. These could be articles from robotics kits to DIY building blocks. However, among several forms of DIY, robotics in DIY is the closest one gets to engineering in real life.

However, getting children started with making is not just about shopping for new toys. Making is a position on learning that puts the learner in charge. The focus should be on engaging students in activities to brainstorm, design, innovate and build. It is also imperative to ensure that these children are monitored throughout their learning process and that the learning is sufficiently incentivised.

We at Kidobotikz strongly believe that our students should learn through building and committing errors in the process. Our kits aim to promote a learning drive in our students, one that gradually turns them into makers and innovators. This we feel is the right direction for the entire education system to move in. That way, the entire community of students can be transformed into innovators- children who dare to think outside the existing ethos and come up with path breaking ideas.

Happy Roboting ! ! 

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Why you should be at KRG this weekend!

After a week of closely covering the happenings at Kidobotikz’s makerspaces, both the intended-for-makers hall and makeshift makerspaces which spring up in the classrooms (pun intended); we are here on Wednesday with barely two days left to go for the eagerly anticipated weekend extravaganza- Kidobotikz Robo Games. Participation for the 9th edition has swelled to a sizable proportions with Kids expressing their eagerness to participate in as many events as their tight schedules can manage. If there is someone who has to bear the brunt of this swell in participation, it has to be the poor trainers who have toiled equally alongside these young children to get their projects ready in time. All through the entire week, the Kidobotikz makerspace has been a beehive of activity with quite a lot of buzzing and whirring. 

While we understand that all this cacophony may not exactly be music to the visitors and parents, who wait on patiently for hours while their wards work on seemingly bizarre projects and robots; for the Kidobotikz team though this represents something surreal and important. It is something that appeals to our core philosophies The work undertaken by our students and the interest garnered by the event KRG is something that drives us at Kidobotikz, because it represents all the goodness we expect to inculcate in our students.

If you’ve read through both the previous paragraphs and are still wondering as to what use does an event like KRG or an organization such as Kidobotikz hold for you, we have a very simple suggestion: you should see it to feel it.

The following are the key takeaways that we feel KRG offers to all those who spend the two days with us:

1. Immense fun: Well, it is the whole essence of the event! We promise this more than anything else. KRG in itself defines a new level of fun, one that brings in high tech warriors breathing down each other’s neck.

2. Nail-biting finishes: With events such Manual Robo Sumo and Robo Race, we have planned an event that is expected to be high octane in terms of cut throat competition on the arena. To ensure that there is fierce competition on the arena and there are no home ground advantages, we have kept everything from the design and size of the arena to the number of participants on the lull. We want to ensure that wins are not easy for any of the contestants. We are apologetic for our sinister intent but we are doing it because, well we are the organizers and we have been tasked with ensuring suspense.

3. “Bring down the roof”-esque jolly: The joy of participating in an event should never be limited by decibel levels. Infact, a famous scientist once so eloquently stated that

“The limit of fun that can be had in an event are determined by 3 important factors:
a)duration of event,

b)unpredictability of the event

c) decibel levels permitted in the area.”

Well, we have ensured that the first two parameters are in our favour. For the third one we plan to use the high intensity of the event to bring make the event as fun as we can. So, if you are somebody who likes to cheer and scream at the top of your voice, you’ll definitely not be out of place at KRG! That’s a promise.

And did we tell you our secret formula for this?

Total Fun achieved in the event ∝   Decibel levels

4. Wunderkinds: Well, they are the stars and heroes of this whole event! How often do you come across a gathering school students who were hurriedly working towards getting robots ready to battle. These are students for whom robotics is child’s play and something they’ve been honing for a few years. When hundreds of these young minds are going to be at their competitive best, it is a feat that one should definitely not miss.  

5. Robots: Well, we are pinning a great deal of hopes on these inanimate objects to blow life into the entire event. And they haven’t let us down in the past! With a myriad of robots expected to be en garde and fiercely breathe down each others’ sensors, KRG promises to be a cracker of an event!   

If you’ve read all this, we’re pretty sure you wouldn’t wanna miss all this action. What to do if you are neither a student nor a parent?  What to do if you are somebody who has no inkling about robotics and are just somebody who read this blogpost from facebook?

It doesn’t matter that big to us. For us, you are a key well wisher who took the time and effort to read our article. We would be grateful if you could grace the occasion of KRG and take part in the festivities

Come visit us at  KRG this weekend and catch all the action.

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Build to Boast: What your child should actually learn to brag about?

What is a toy? A rather silly question to ask. But to actually define it, one would require the help of a dictionary. An immediate scouring of the oxford english dictionary would reveal something of this kind. 

” A toy is an object for a child to play with, typically a model or miniature replica of something. ”

The definition in itself is fair enough and tries to fairly encapsulate what a toy is. But all the dictionaries in the whole wide world fail to reveal the true purpose behind why a toy exists in the first place and why these objects of non-emotivity appeal to children. Several studies into Toys and their associated psychology have revealed that Kids use toys and the whole activity of play to mimic adults and expose themselves to adult-ish behaviour. Kids tend to anthropomorphise toys and feel attached to them just like the way they would grow attached to their favourite cartoon characters. Despite the lack of any human emotion or communication, toys themselves manage to appeal to the primal instincts in humans. By this argument, it can be easily surmised that toys and the act of play are a major part of upbringing in children in their formative years. However, the supposed positive effects, toys can have on children are in themselves determined by the type of toys kids are given access to. Herein lies the gaffe created by us, the adults.

Bowing to our increased purchasing power and our crass consumerism attitudes, we have exposed our wards to a line of less than healthy choices in terms of toys and other consumables. The design of toys themselves have gone up in sophistication to keep up with our lifestyle choices. From being articles of leisure that were expendable after fair usage, toys have become something of a collectible that drives divide between the users. This wedge in itself has only made toys something of prestigious possessions for children rather than things that are meant to bring them closer to pals. 


With the advent of the smartphone revolution, a newer gadget has made it to the hands of our young ones. The smartphone and it’s sibling, the tablet PC, have now made it to the hands of children as opposed to the chalk and slate used by the previous generation not too long ago. These connected devices which put the internet with all its mystifying glory at the hands of young children do not much good in terms of making them good learners. Children are increasingly distracted from the true purpose of the internet- learning.

This means that the true purpose of learning in itself is defeated. The humility that can be learned from building something is lost when a child spends bragging about his possessions and spends time yearning for products that are increasingly out of his affordability and opulence. The true spirit of learning can be achieved only when children use their constructive energies in play and learn from play. This mindset can be cultivated in them only when they are exposed to toys and activities that promote learning through building. 

This form of constructive engagement is what we at Kidobotikz try to achieve through our kits. Our kits are aimed at making children appreciate the engineering behind every gadget they come across and understand the inner workings of every product they use. 

Happy Roboting ! !

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Fostering the 'Jugaad' way of learning in mainstream education ! !

Far from the days of Japanese terms of management philosophy and production and intensive post "dot-com bubble" jargon, if there is one more word which cas captured the fascination of industry majors, it has to be the word Jugaad. ‘Jugaad’, which is a colloquial Hindi word, has gained significant traction these days in the business and management parlance. The word, which literally means a "hack", is generally used to represent an ingenious fix or a simple work-around in situations that would warrant strict adherence to existing norms or practices.

This method of solving a complicated issue with out-of-the-box thought processes is often used to signify creativity wherein a conventional mindset or approach is shunned to make existing things work without significant expenditure; or to create new things with meager resources. The Indian-originated practice of Jugaad engineering is widely accepted as a effective form of frugal engineering across the world. ISRO which successfully managed to achieve the title of being “the first country in the world to place a probe in orbit around Mars on the very first attempt” itself attributed its enormous success to process of Jugaad inspired frugal engineering where the attitude of “make do with what you have” is embraced. This practice of “form follows function” is actually what drove the cost economics behind TATA’s Nano Car or the endless models of sub-INR 10000 smartphones that are available in the market today.

Interestingly, the concept of Jugaad in itself has never been approved or acknowledged by the mainstream education system in the country. Infact, it could even be considered that the Jugaad actually thrives due to immense satisfaction caused by it being able to bend around the existing framework and come up with a decent work around. In a scenario like a faulty desktop, conventional wisdom would advise the user to find a qualified tech support and reach out for authentic spares; while a Jugaad mindset would advise the user to develop a cheaper workaround by himself.

This form of resourcefulness, which does not conform to existing ethos, has never been promoted by the education system as it views this as a “hack” culture fraught with un-usefulness. On the contrary, this system promotes anything but un-usefulness. It is a system wherein the user can be creative only if he is well versed with the technical knowhow of the given process or product. A jugaad mindset would actually motivate a student to be technically sound in order to be able to achieve the desired workaround.

We at Kidobotikz aim to bring these hitherto marginalized concepts into the learning scheme of things for our students and make the ‘Jugaad’ way of learning as a part of mainstream education. We promote core philosophies of frugality in learning through our kits where kids understand the face value of every component and tinker with designs to achieve high optimum performance as against cosmetic appearance. This will not only make the process of learning fun and fulfilling, but will also make the society a better place as such life hacks go a long way in driving contentment in an increasingly capitalist society.

Happy Roboting ! 

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Towards a DIY-driven curriculum . . .

DIY or Do-It-Yourself is a cultural movement that has its roots dating back to the post-World War II era when the entire world rebuild itself after the devastating effect of the world wars. To overcome for the shortage of high demand labour, people took up activities of building homes, furnishing carpentry and painting by themselves. This in-turn drove an industry where products were made more modular to ease their assembly. Important commodity such as furniture, household appliances, domestic implements were all designed in such a way that users could buy them in knocked down kits and then easily assemble them in the confines of our homes and use them without much ado. Some of the best loved products in the industry made their name by catering to the creative and constructive spirit in humans where the users did not just enjoy a particular product but also took home the satisfaction of assembling the product themselves thereby feeling one with it. This aspect of the commodity reached out to a primal instinct in us. When we talk of such commodities (read furniture), a certain Danish conglomerate comes to our mind. With their DIY-styled furniture and highly impressive meatballs, IKEA did more than just sell the furniture for homes. It made users feel at heart the utility of every component in the product. 

Moving on, one actually wonders how this act of assembling products or components makes us feel better compared to purchasing an off-the-shelf product. The reason for this lies in our childhood and our constructive upbringing. We as humans love to see things take shape. It is always wonderful to see things evolve from random components and objects into things with definite form and functions. Kids who love playing with building blocks and play-doh or adults who fix motorcycles as a hobby can relate to this primal spirit where they are both creating and learning at the same time. Such activities awaken the less explore cognitive skills of creativity and right-brain thinking in us.

What if such an instinct is used not only for activities of play or fun? What if we could put such strong energies to some good use? Only if there were a curriculum that supported our innate creative spirit and incorporated the same into the courseware as a part of the mainstream education. Such a way of learning would be one that can always harvest our creative and keep our learning processes sharp because it is one we as children would pay attention to and be entertained by.

Team Kidobotikz has always given impetus to the creative and the constructive mindset of children as an untapped potential. Our Kits which aim at providing a fun-filled learning experience to students has always given back more than what it took from the student- the zeal to learn and the desire to innovate. Every student who ever was associated with us not only took back home the knowledge of robotics, but rubbed his creative spirit and potential on to the trainers as well. As an organization this has galvanized our efforts to make the experience of our kits available to all. We look forward to a day where every school going kid who gets back home switches on a maker board rather than a TV show.

Happy Roboting ! !

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Robotics: Gen Knowledge for Gen Z

“Personally, I’m not afraid of a robot uprising. The benefits far outweigh the threats.” 

The aforementioned quote was said by Daniel H. Wilson, a New York Times best selling author, a and an armchair expert on robotics. In every sense of the written word, the above quote holds up. All along the evolution of robotic technologies, there have been fans as well as naysayers. The community of naysayers have always held a paranoia towards the growth of robotics and it’s supposed taking over the world through artificial intelligence. While what may happen in the future is as good as anybody’s guess, if current trends are any indication, robotics as a field of study or as a branch of technology is definitely gonna revolutionize the way we live. Especially when one considers the fact that the access to core concepts of robotics have now trickled down to the younger generation. Placing the know-how of a technology in the hands of tomorrow’s generation is only going to expedite the process of bringing future to the present.

The new generation of children who were born after the global paranoia of Y2K or the dot com bubble or the 2008 financial crisis probably had parents who shielded them from the consequences of these global events which spread the fear of unemployment and career uncertainty to the youth who witnessed them. The world has come a long way from such crises and stabilized now. Children who were probably toddlers back then are now in their teens. These teens, the perspectives of whom now spans the entire globe thanks to phenomenon like smart phones and high speed internet, have resources and time of abundance that their seniors were not blessed with until a decade ago. 

These young netizens, who today are blessed with luxury of instant access to knowledge, should be given the right set of skills for them to become the right beneficiaries of such luxuries. When facts such as that of History and other social sciences are available at instant clicks, it no longer makes sense to spend considerable time on memorizing them. It makes more sense for them to spend their energies on concepts that are dynamic and ever changing. Concepts of science and technology which are evolving everyday thanks to endless research, need to be given more attention to. The subjects of programming and algorithm on which the entire information age runs are more vital than history and art. It is imperative that students learn these important subjects at a younger age in a manner that they can use throughout their lifetime. It is prudent that these concepts are packaged in a manner that students of a younger age can comprehend. Robotics which is at the crossroads of all the aforementioned subjects of importance should be included in the curriculum of children. It will have an immense impact on their scholastic performance. Learning robotics will not just equip them for their academic year, it will equip them with a skillset for their lifetime. 

Happy Roboting ! !

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From Storage spaces to Makerspaces. . . .

If you are looking at the above image and are wondering what is, here’s some interesting tidbit for you. The above image is of Amazon’s Kiva robots. Kiva robots, a product of Amazon Robotics, is a revolution in the logistics and warehousing industry. Ever since introduction at Amazon’s logistics and warehousing facilities, Kiva has transformed the way products are hand-picked and shipped from the storage. It is an autonomous heavy duty robot which lifts crates of products and brings it directly to the hands of the packaging personnel who then ship the product to the consumer. This is a revolutionary technology that has changed the world of warehouse management. 

You are probably wondering what is this piece of information doing on a Kidobotikz article that is neither “Tech Mania“ nor “Geek Speak”. Well, in case you haven’t realised this about Kidobotikz yet, here it goes- there’s more to Kidobotikz and their students than that meets the eye!

We at Kidobotikz always motivate our students to improve upon their tech skills to make themselves “Jack of all trades”. To this end, the 9th Edition of Kidobotikz Robo Games will be featuring an event that tries to emulate what Amazon robotics did. Yes, you heard it right. Our Kidobotikz students will be trying to develop their own version of the Kiva robot. Called “Auto Transbot” , the event has a unique problem statement- “Design and build a robot which should pick and place a pallet from one place to another autonomously by following the given black line on white background”. 

Students will be tasked with developing the concepts, working mechanisms and the algorithms for these robots which will be autonomous. To ensure that the conceptual understanding of the students are put to the ultimate test and make it a gruelling ordeal for them to get Qualification-worthy robots, the problem statement has been intentionally made tough. But the resilience of Kidobotikz students is such that every KRG, the organizers are bested and amazed by the swarms of robots that our students make. This time is not expected to be any different either. So, if you are at KRG and see a swarm of bots lifting up some payload laden pallets; you are witnessing a technology which revolutionized the speed at which you got your online delivery and which is being revolutionized by the younger generation. 

Happy Roboting ! !

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Why do we conduct KRG?

“The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give.” ~ Howard Cosell

This incredible quote by the renowned sportscaster, who covered several of Muhammad Ali’s memorable bouts, encapsulates every positive there is in sporting and competition. It is no doubt that we as humans desire the sweet taste of victory every time it happens. Even when victory remains out of grasp there is always is a take away for someone who spends his time and efforts to take part in a competition. He could take back from anything between his lessened ego to the sweet satisfaction of an improved performance. Some people who put up brave faces in failure actually enumerate their misgivings during the preparation and the performance to ensure that such mistakes aren’t repeated in successive performances. This is what reforms us as human beings and helps us better ourselves through the universal method for betterment- Trial and Error.

Kidobotikz believes in the fruits of trial and error. After all, the kits that our kids love were developed after concerted efforts which saw many a errors and corrections. But, all our efforts would have been in vain if our students do not imbibe the competitive spirit of innovation where they try and things fail at things until the get it right. What better way to inculcate this spirit than through a robotics competition in which students get the taste of cut throat competition and are forced to think outside the box to come out on top of the competition. This is the major reason behind conducting Kidobotikz Robo Games, which tries to bring in all the elements of competition and the desire to strive for absolute excellence. These attributes are important for students over the course of their education and lifetime. 

KRG is a competition that strives to inculcate desired attitudes in children. By exposing them to a realm of competition Kidobotikz aims to bring out the full spectrum of focus in children. When they are in a competitive mode, kids tend to explore all avenues to achieve success. When this is in a science-related field they are motivated to think outside the box and learn all relevant concepts to achieve the desired competence to become victorious. This enables them to learn concepts that they would otherwise brush aside. More importantly, they will pick up some vital soft skills such as Team spirit, collaboration and sportsmanship.

Talking on the scholastic aspects surrounding the event, the event format comprises of carefully planned events each of which aims to bring out an important attribute in students. Events such as Project Expo encourage students to focus on their intellectual strengths, while Temple Run encourages to design bots that are optimised for the particular event as against generic robots. All of this aids in practical application of knowledge that kids gain throughout the year at Kidobotikz. Giving them technical problem statements promotes problem solving attitudes within them Bringing this out in them makes them better learners and gives them a purpose for practical learning. Every Student who has ever participated at KRG is Jack of all trades. He is well versed in some diverse concepts such as programming, algorithm, electronics and mechanics. By continuously participating in KRG he evolves into a tech-wizard who has a mastery over all the aforementioned subjects. This is the magic that KRG brings out in students. 

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Democratizing Tech-education for the innovators of tomorrow

Internet has been called a “great equalizer”. It brought to us some of the creature comforts that generations before us could simply never gain access to. It brought us the gift of connectivity and massive outreach across the globe. There aren’t quite many sectors it revolutionized. Ever since its birth from the humble DARPANet till when Tim Berners Lee created the World Wide Web, the internet was something of a gizmo that was more of an university project. But, ever since that fortunate november in 1989, the world hasn’t looked back. The internet brought into parlance a key phenomenon- the phenomenon of content explosion. The phenomenon of content explosion aided in making sure that some of the most important pieces of information that were present in the form of the written word entered a global utopia where it could be discussed and debated until consensus was reached or commotion ensued until eternity.

All of this had a direct influence on the world of technology. Thanks to the efforts of a Mountain view, California-situated giant, whose intentions “ to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful ” have resulted in the world becoming a better place and actually making it a smaller place with android placing all the information at our finger tips. However, has all this actually made the world a smarter place? Unfortunately, No. Has it made our way of understanding things better? No. Has it made kids smarter? A big No. 

Problem for this has always been linked to the grassroot methods in teaching practices. The education sector as such has never seen any dynamic transformation in improving the quality of content nor the user experience that kids have access to. Kids still face discrepancies in the quality of educational content that is developed for their use. The need of the hour is a platform that provides access to high quality educational content that is both comprehensible from a student’s perspective as well as capable of capturing his imagination. Such a platform should be designed keeping in mind the attributes of a child’s acumen and his desire to remain entertained throughout the process. Such an approach would be akin to democratizing tech-intense concepts and making it available to students across the world in such a way that it reduces the pre-requisites for students before they can learn such concepts. This is important because the innovators of tomorrow still ride to school with their parents and are yet to start on concepts which would require them to wrack their brains around. It is imperative that we reach them with newer methods of pedagogy before they are mature enough to point out the discripancies in the education system and rue the fact that they were products of such a system.

Kidobotikz, as a team, is well aware of the shortcomings of such a system. We have always aimed to disrupt the educational system. This drives our operating philosophies. Our kits have been designed to cater to the niche created by the lack of a curriculum that captures students’ imaginations. Every kit consists in itself the most appropriate approach to STEM learning. Kids with access to Kidobotikz’s kits have always felt a transformation in their understanding of technology and the workings of everyday objects.

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"Play"- The new way of Learning

Any parent who has ever spent time helping Kids learn their subjects in the primary years have always been in tune with the child’s learning practices, their likes and dislikes. Kids in general are very picky learners. They tend to hold bias in their minds over the subjects they learn. They love learning a few subjects while tend to neglect others. This can be observed in the manner they express enthusiasm towards a few subjects as against the others. Parents can even observe the spark in children when they are learning their favourite subjects. So, it is safe to surmise that children learn best when they are interested and engaged. And their engagement and interests are at a high when they love what they are about to learn.

Using children’s interests as a basis while designing curriculum helps to ensure that learning is not only interesting but is also meaningful and relevant to them. The usual subjects of dislike to them such as math and science cannot be avoided. Regardless of children’s likes-dislikes, bitter pills such as these have to be administered to them for their own well being. But, if there were mechanisms where kids intuitively preferred math and science and took more interests in these subjects, it would be desirable and save parents the trouble of force-feeding them with these subjects. But the daunting task of making math and science simplified enough for young children to comprehend them has always been a challenge fraught with risks. Making the subjects simple enough usually renders them juvenile and illogical. Hence, educators have always been sceptical of tinkering with the way the important concepts of math and science are tutored at school.

When considering the balance between such important aspects of learning, it helps when we observe the various facets of children’s interests and look for the key psychology behind these interests.  Studies show that kids enjoy learning when they have to use their dexterity in the task. They learn from constructive activities such as assembling blocks, creating art and even making mud castles. These activities awaken their primal instincts of learning that has led to us evolve as a species. So, why not use similar activities to make them learn math and science in a manner that is both engaging and does not let feel the burden of comprehending concepts.

The good folks at Kidobotikz believe our Kits serve the same purpose. The kits of kidobotikz are no more a toy than brightly coloured plastic bricks that kids love to assemble. The kits of kidobotikz are no less fun than a remote controlled car or helo. But, there is something that makes our kits stand out from the plethora of play options available at any toy store. It is the skills of math, science that a kids gets acquainted with when he uses the kit that makes the kit stand out. It is the joy a kid gets from indirectly learning his academics that makes the kits stand out. With the Kidobotikz kit, it is never a “pause” from learning because it is always “play” learning.

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