CEO Of Educational Robot Company: “Robots Belong In The Classroom”
Graham Ryland believes that robots belong in the classroom. As the CEO of Barobo, the maker of modular robots called Mobots, he has witnessed firsthand the enthusiasm students get for math and science when they can learn the subjects in the context of robots. He gave a recent talk at TEDxSacramento to share his enthusiasm for what robots can do for education.
“Robots offer a wide variety of learning modalities. Kids can learn math through experience. They can make predictions with math and then verify them with robots.” He added, “Robots teach 21st century skills like creativity and collaboration. They give the opportunity for students to have mentorship positions with other students.”
As Graham explains in the TEDx video, the company has a successful approach for getting kids into learning about math via robots: a tiered-strategy called instructional scaffolding. “We grab kids with the remote control. We show them what robots can do. We use control panels to get them interested in using math as part of their curriculum and part of their word problems. We use pose teaching to have hands-on programming that allows them to create complex motion control with the robots. And then, once they know how to program in C, opportunities are limitless.” (via CEO Of Educational Robot Company: “Robots Belong In The Classroom” | Singularity Hub)
