The rapid development of high-tech in recent decades has posed a lot of difficult questions for society. One of them concerns the system of training highly qualified specialists in the field of robotics, artificial intelligence and programming. As in the case of learning foreign languages, many experts recommend teaching future programmers and creators of robotic platforms already from school age. Moreover, many children (and not only boys) in primary and secondary school age are already interested in various gadgets and the intricacies of their device.
That is why today we are seeing a boom in various circles and educational programs in the field of robotics and STEM in general. Such circles are becoming more and more in demand and popular among children and their parents. And in many cases, you can harmoniously combine the interests of children and adults, if you use interesting solutions from manufacturers of STEM toys (designers and kits for technical creativity with programming elements, including kits for creating the first children’s robots).
In response, manufacturers offer many products that can be used to teach robotics and programming skills to children. Some of these products are becoming popular and are widely used in various circles. Others appear and disappear without winning the loyalty of children and teachers. Today we want to tell you about a new product that has already gained great popularity in the STEM toy market and is increasingly being included in the arsenal of the corresponding clubs and home collections. We will talk about sets of robots-constructors ClicBot. Practice shows that the novelty has become very popular not only among children, but also their parents, who are happy to take part in the process of assembling the next robot along with their children.
What is it and how to work with it?
ClicBot is not quite familiar to many constructor with the ability to program. Indeed, if the manufacturing company followed the beaten path by creating another copy of Lego STEM, it would hardly attract attention. Is that trying to conquer the market at the expense of low prices. Therefore, the developers approached the issue creatively and offered potential consumers – children and adults – several kit options that allow you to create a wide variety of figures of interactive robots. Due to this, as well as due to more than 1000 different settings, it was possible to create a very flexible and extremely interesting constructor for various age groups.
The essence of the development is that you can choose one of several sets and use special parts-modules to create various toys and things that are useful for the home. For example, you can make a dancing robot or create racing robots to organize competitions. And you can even make a robot waiter so that he can serve you. For fans of various horror films, science fiction films and comics, there are also options to create robots that will crawl on surfaces, including vertical ones, using special suction cups.
To create all this and even more, you just need to select the appropriate parts from the set and connect them correctly, which is not difficult, but at the same time makes you think a little and work with your head and hands. Depending on the kit, you will have more or less of these modules: wheels, claws for grabbing objects, a display, etc. All this does not require too much time to understand and master. The toy is not so simple, but not too complicated to quickly get bored and abandon it for one reason or another.
Another “trick” of ClicBot is the ability to program the robot’s actions. At the same time, for a child, such a function will be very useful and informative if a small inventor has an interest in the future to master a profession in the field of IT. It is also important that mastering programming with ClicBot will not be too difficult and tedious for a student, since the toy uses the Blockly library from Google, which uses many techniques for block building commands like the Scratch language, which was developed at one time just for those who wants to start learning programming. Multi-colored blocks and a personal assistant will help in an entertaining and interesting way for the child to start mastering the first commands.
Another interesting point is the built-in light displays. Children and adults can use them for games and quizzes. As a result, you can make the process even more interesting, add elements of interactivity and visual effects. By the way, about games and quizzes. When you get your hands on the new ClicBot, you will find games and quizzes already installed on it. For them, you can just use the display. In addition to the display, there are also face recognition sensors, object tracking sensors, and sensors to facilitate the capture of objects. It is also very important that security measures are provided, since the robot can move. In order to avoid unwanted contact with foreign objects and navigation while driving, infrared sensors are built into the ClicBot.
For lovers of various creative moments, there is also something interesting. The robot can be linked to a smartphone. At the same time, such work in conjunction allows you to show the capabilities of ClicBot when taking pictures. For example, you can create panorama shots, time lapse shots, or capture action scenes. And that’s not all. ClicBot actually has a lot more features and capabilities in this regard. The built-in camera of the bot will also be a good helper.
The robot can also be controlled using a small touch screen with an intuitive interface. To use all the maximum available features of the bot, download and install a special application for ClicBot.
Programming training
Since ClicBot is not just a toy, but a tool for learning, the creators have provided for the possibility of teaching children programming in the process of assembling and operating various models. Thus, by purchasing a bot, you give your child the opportunity to gain new knowledge and skills, including the basics of programming, while playing. And this can be the first step in the future profession for children. But even if your son or daughter does not become programmers or engineers of robotic platforms, playing with Clickbot will be much more interesting and instructive for them than just using your smartphone or computer.
If you and your children do not want to learn programming, then you can work with ClicBot in another way. The toy has a built-in motion recording function so that in the future the bot can use it to remember and repeat the movements you need. This is similar to machine learning (at least one of the learning methods is similar to what is described here). To do this, the robot is equipped with a “smart assistant”. This will also help the child in the early stages to prepare for the development of programming and understand the essence of some algorithms.
A special application and video tutorials will help you and your child master various options for working with the robot: learning through video or immersing yourself in the basics of programming. Also in the application you can see a three-dimensional overview with instructions and training lessons for future inventors. You will see code examples and programming guides for various ClicBot configurations.
The robot has “personalities”, that is, different models with different configurations. The set of such “personalities” depends on which kit you purchased. The simpler and cheaper the kit, the fewer “personalities”. Accordingly, you can choose the kit you are interested in, and the ability to buy one or another option will depend on the size of your budget. Maximum kits: Full and Maker. You can also choose additional modules and accessories separately.
How to set up ClicBot and work with it
Experienced professionals usually recommend that beginners buy the simplest ClicBot kit. On the one hand, such a recommendation is not without rationality. However, robotics is such an exciting activity, and even more so in the family circle, that we would advise not to save money, but to take the maximum sets. This will allow you to expand the boundaries of your creativity. And you can start with one of the simplest robots in the case of the maximum set.
Moreover, even for beginners it will be quite clear how to start assembling and configuring the robot thanks to quite understandable instructions and a large number of video tutorials and other interesting videos. See how to assemble the simplest models first. Do everything as the instructions recommend. You will see that you will not have serious problems. A little embarrassment and a few understandable novice blockages won’t spoil the process. It `s naturally. Try Demo, Program and Game modes. And you will see even in the simplest examples how fun the process of playing robotics with the help of ClicBot can be.
To try all this in action, first (before using the kit directly) install the ClicBot application on your smartphone. Go to YouTube and check out the lessons that will show you from the very basics how to do certain things correctly, how to start programming your bot. All this is stated and shown in such a way that even a younger student will understand. Find various communities and forums (of which there are already many) to exchange information and share your achievements there. Get support from more experienced users.
Simplicity, reliability and comfort
Now one of the “sick” questions of many parents and not only. And how reliable is ClicBot in terms of quality of materials, assembly and safety? All too often in recent years, many are faced with similar problems. However, with ClicBotom, you can be completely calm about the health of your child and the whole family as a whole. And the quality of every detail, the module is not satisfactory. Tests of not only laboratory, but also real conditions show that ClicBot endures falls and some other troubles. Of course, you should not experiment and try to understand whether your robot is capable of operating in extreme conditions. There is another technique for this. But in general, you should not worry about durability and reliability.
One of the advantages of the design lies precisely in the modular nature of the bot. The mounts are also quite reliable and do not cause problems either with the connection or with the process of parsing the model. ClicBot also has the ability to update the software on a regular basis. This frees you from having to keep track of new firmware versions regularly. You will always work only with the latest version. Maintenance of the robot is also uncomplicated. There are no special requirements. Just make sure that the structure, especially on moving parts, does not have any dirt and small objects like hair or fluff that can impede movement (wheels, etc.).
