SoftBank Robotics has developed a new visual programming tool to motivate high school students to create new applications for Pepper during class.
As part of the pilot program, 1,000 students from 20public schools in Boston, San Francisco and Vancouver will improve their programming skills using the Tethys integrated environment – customized visual interface for basic Python scripts.
By creating new blocks, connecting them on the screen with wires and changing configurations, students canprogram the actions of a virtual robot, andthen apply them on a real pepper. At the same time, they can also check the scripts underlying the blocks, make changes to them or completely rewrite the code.
Although the idea of using robots for motivationChildren are not new, but SoftBank plans to capture a segment of this fast-growing market with its most famous robot. Since not every school can afford the purchase of such educational equipment, to promote the project, the company donates Pepper to educational institutions.
At the end of last year, Softbank also announced the opening of a Tokyo cafe in which these humanoid robots will serve customers.
text: Ilya Bauer, photo and video: SoftBank Robotics
