(USA)
It is vital that education provides people with the skills they need to excel in the ‘age of acceleration‘.
Coding, for example, is something youngsters would ideally learn from a young age. And a newly-formed startup, Root Robotics, aims to facilitate that by transforming the way ‘coding abilities are developed in children from an early age and then progress through all age groups’. To do so, it will commercialise the interactive robot, Root, developed by Harvard’s Wyss Institute.
“Given the glee we have seen on the children’s faces who have worked with Root in our testing, we are excited to see it begin the next chapter as its own startup, so that it can positively impact the next generation,” said Professor Donald Ingber, Wyss Institute Founding Director.
Students programme Root using an iPad, remotely operating it to carry out a number of tasks, such as playing music, drawing, and driving on vertical surfaces.
“Root really allows children to find their own trajectory in coding, by enhancing their natural interests and allowing them to go at their own pace. This makes for a very personal experience, which can be used with little kids or even in undergrad classrooms like mine,” said Radhika Nagpal, co-founder of Root Robotics and a scientific advisor to the company.
Check out this video from last year, when Root was introduced to the world.
