Why should kids learn about robots?

Only yesterday, news came from Japan about Pepper. Billed as an ‘emotional robot’, she is designed to live with humans, and sold out within minutes. Pepper will sigh when feeling unhappy, and her cameras and sensors dictate her mood which is then displayed on her chest. Whether you can truly say that modern robots can feel ‘emotions’, is a point of contention, but what is clear is that we are constantly making advances in the fascinating field of robotics.

It is easy to see a world in the not too distant future where the elderly have robot carers, robot nurses roam hospitals and robot taxis and train drivers transport people from A to B (By early 2014 Google’s self-driving car had travelled 100,000 miles on real roads without a crash). This doesn’t even take into account the many contributions they are making right now… Has it ever occurred to you while driving that your car was most likely assembled by a robot? Or that the Amazon package you received today was packed by a robot? Robots on the moon, robots used in warfare, robots in bomb disposal – the list goes on.

 Rise of the robots…

As we as a race become increasingly aware of the different uses of robots, so the economy for them rapidly expands. Between 2009 and 2014, worldwide sales of industrial robots rose from 60,000 to 225,000, an enormous jump of almost 400%. Jobs in robotic engineering and programming are becoming increasingly numerous, and as robots continue to take on jobs formerly assigned to humans, these opportunities will only grow.

It’s clear that the future of the human race will be intertwined and dependent on robotics, and we think that it is essential that your children get a head-start in this crucial industry. Bring them along to Let’s Build Robots, where over the course of six 1.5 hour sessions they’ll learn a different aspect of robotics, including 3D printing, coding and sensors. At the end of the course they’ll bring all of these skills together to create their very own robot to take home!

Tickets are selling fast, get them here before they’re all gone!

Let’s Make Robots forms part of Maker Club’s inaugural Big Tech Summer – six glorious weeks of designing, making, crafting, smashing, fixing, coding, playing, meeting and inventing, for the whole family! Have at a look at our website for more details. http://makerclub.org/