Root, educational robot, iRobot Corporation, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA

Computational thinking and programming underlie the digital world around us – yet K-16 teachers have been challenged to find the right teaching tool to instill coding and programming skills in beginners of a wide age range. Recognizing the pressing need for young students to be digitally literate and the remarkable educational power of robots, a team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering has developed Root, a coding robot that will engage students at an early age and guide the growth of their coding skills. By programming Root through exciting activities and games, today’s coding students will be tomorrow’s digital innovators.

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Computational thinking and programming underlie the digital world around us – yet K-16 teachers have been challenged to find the right teaching tool to instill coding and programming skills in beginners of a wide age range. Recognizing the pressing need for young students to be digitally literate and the remarkable educational power of robots, a team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering has developed Root, a coding robot that will engage students at an early age and guide the growth of their coding skills. By programming Root through exciting activities and games, today’s coding students will be tomorrow’s digital innovators.

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As much as we all use computers, most of us have no idea how computer coding works. Root is a new teaching robot designed to help children get a leg up on learning how to code.

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CES 2018 Interview

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iRobot has acquired Root Robotics, maker of the Root educational robot. Root is a two-wheeled, mobile platform that can operate on flat surfaces and vertical surfaces, such as a magnetic whiteboard in a classroom.

When paired with the companion mobile app, users can instruct Root to draw artwork, scan colors, play music, respond to touch and sound, climb whiteboard walls, and explore the fundamentals of robotics.

Root is based on Scratch-like Square programming environment that runs on an iPad. Root is designed to transition users from simple drag-and-drop coding to more complex coding languages such as Python.

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