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Friday 16 February 2018
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4 robots that aim to teach your kids to code

By RYAN NAKASHIMA es and maybe even enter- want to avoid more screens drawing lines and progress Boris Sofman, the CEO and
AP Technology Writer tains, here’s a look at four Cons: Doesn’t offer an im- to creating snowflake-like co-founder of Cozmo mak-
LAS VEGAS (AP) — You’ve that were on display at CES. mediate path to real cod- mathematical patterns er Anki, based in San Fran-
seen apps and toys that But beware: None of them ing called fractals. cisco.
promise to teach your child are cheap. Price: $226 Co-founder Zee Dubrovsky Pros: Its expressive eyes and
to code. Now enter the ro- Shipping: Now says his daughter began movements make it seem
bots. Online: https://www.primo- coding with Root at age 4, like a little R2-D2
At the CES electronics show toys.com and progressed up to the Cons: Because it’s so full of
in January, coding robots point where her robot drew personality, there might be
came out in force. One her name on a whiteboard a disconnect between pro-
convention hall area was in school. gramming it to do things
packed with everything Pros: Sturdy frame; kids can and just letting it be itself
from chip-embedded, al- progress from graphical Price: $180
phabet-like coding blocks In this Jan. 9, 2018, image block-based codes to text Shipping: Now
to turtle-like tanks that draw made from a video, the Cu- coding Online: https://www.anki.
on command. betto robot moves across a Cons: Requires lots of clean, com/en-us/cozmo
Of course, no one can re- table following commands in- In this Jan. 9, 2018, image flat surface area, prefer-
ally say how well these cod- put into a board using blocks made from a video, the Root ably whiteboards. Root
ing bots teach kids, or even at the CES gadget show in Las robot traces a line down a has three difficulty levels,
whether learning to code is Vegas. wall using its magnetic treads some of which wade into
the essential life skill that so Associated Press at the CES gadget show in Las deeper math, so parental
many in the tech industry CUBETTO Vegas. time commitment could be
claim. After all, by the time London-based Primo Toys, Associated Press considerable. The Kickstart-
today’s elementary-school the makers of this mobile ROOT er-launched company has
kids are entering the work- wooden block, believes kids Root Robotics’ flattish, hex- taken a while to ship items,
force, computers may well can learn coding concepts agonal droid has down- so delivery could be de- In this Jan. 10, 2018, file pho-
be programming them- at age 3 before they can ward-facing scanners, layed to, the Ozobot Evo, which has
selves. even read. And they don’t magnetic wheels, touch-re- Price: $199 sensors to interact with its en-
But experts like Jeff Gray, a even need a screen. active panels, lights, motion Shipping: June 2018 (al- vironment, is demonstrated at
computer science profes- The “Cubetto” block on sensors, and a pen-grab- though the company has CES International in Las Vegas.
sor at the University of Ala- wheels responds to where bing hole in the center of its been working to fulfill Kick- Associated Press
bama and an adviser to the chip-embedded pieces are body. starter orders since May EVO
nonprofit coding educa- put on a wooden board. Controlling it does require a 2017) This dome-shaped, wheeled
tion group Code.org, say Different colors represent screen. Online: http://www.code- dynamo about the height
kids can derive other ben- different commands — for The Cambridge, Massachu- withroot.com of a few fingers looks for di-
efits from coding robots and example, to “go straight” or setts, company also claims rection right out of the box
similar toys. They can, for “turn left.” kids don’t need to be able — and comes equipped
instance, learn “persistence Kids can bunch together a to read and can start play- to follow around any finger
and grit” when the toys in- number of commands into ing with Root at age 4. placed before its frontal
evitably do something unin- what’s called a function Root draws, moves, sees camera.
tended, he says. and can also make Cubet- and reacts to touch and “We want kids to immedi-
So if you’re in the market for to repeat actions in a loop. various other commands. ately engage with a robot,”
a coding robot that teach- Pros: Good for parents who Kids can use Root to start says Nader Hamda, found-
In this Jan. 10, 2018, file photo, er and CEO of Evo’s maker,
Anki Cozmo coding robot is Redondo Beach, California-
on display at CES International based Ozobot.
in Las Vegas. The robot makes sounds,
Associated Press flashes lights, moves and
COZMO can sense and react to its
This bundle of personality environment.
on wheels debuted in 2016. An app helps kids — aged
It now comes with an app 8 and up — program Evo
called Code Lab, which al- to do what they want. The
lows kids to drag and drop bot’s downward facing
blocks of code that control scanners also let it follow
its movements and anima- lines drawn on regular pa-
tions. per, some of which embody
They can even access fa- coding instructions.
cial and object recognition For instance, blue-black-
functions enabled by Coz- blue gets it to speed up;
mo’s front-facing camera. green-red-green-red tells it
Cozmo, recommended for to spin.
kids aged 8 and up, looks Pros: It’s cheaper than other
like a little tractor and can coding bots
pick up interactive cubes, Cons: It doesn’t do quite as
which are included. much as other bots
Part of its appeal are the Price: $89
twitches and tweets that Shipping: Now
make it seem like an en- Online: https://ozobot.com
ergetic pet, according to q