We help an international STEM education company develop robots that support a growing range of learning programs, including an AI program designed especially for young students.
An international STEM education company teaches engineering, coding and technology to children through hands-on robotics programs. MicroBitDesign helps them create robots that support their growing range of programs, including a new AI program designed especially for young students.
What we do
- Development of robots and robot capabilities for new learning programs
- Embedded firmware for motors, sensors and robot behaviour
- Making new hardware features usable through the students' programming experience
- Supporting the hardware and firmware side of an AI program for young students
One platform, many programs
Each new program brings new requirements: different sensors, new behaviours, new ways for students to interact with the robot. Robots have to support new programs without becoming more complicated to use, and new capabilities should fit into the platform rather than turn every program into a separate product.
Bringing AI to young students
AI is becoming part of everyday life, and children deserve to understand it, not just use it. An AI program for young students needs hardware that makes abstract ideas tangible: a robot that senses something, makes a decision and reacts in a way a child can see and question. The challenge is making that experience simple, reliable and engaging for young learners, with the complexity kept under the hood.
Why educational robots are a special kind of product
- The users are learners. Behaviour must be predictable and easy to understand, because a student needs to see the link between their program and what the robot does.
- The environment is a classroom. Robots are built, rebuilt, dropped and reconfigured many times, by many groups in a day.
- Batteries run low. The robot has to behave sensibly as the battery drains, not suddenly behave differently halfway through a lesson.
- Consistency at scale. Every robot in a classroom should respond the same way to the same program.
Engineering focus
From hardware feature to a student command
A new capability is only useful in education if a student can use it. Every feature works on two levels: robust low-level firmware for motors and sensors, and a simple, intuitive way to use it in a student's program.
Robust, fail-gracefully behaviour
When something unexpected happens, like a disconnected sensor, a stalled motor or an unusual program, the robot should recover or report it clearly instead of failing in front of a class.
How we work
Clear communication is central: prompt responses, technical trade-offs explained in plain language, and quick incorporation of feedback from the educators who use the robots every day.
Technologies & disciplines
- Robot hardware and embedded firmware development
- Motor and sensor control
- Programming interfaces for educational use
- Hardware for AI education
- Robust, fault-tolerant device behaviour