roBlocks, a startup firm that is developing robotic blocks for children to use in science centers and education institutions, has received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the National Science Foundation.
Eric Schweikardt, a graduate student in Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Architecture and co-founder of the company with Mark D. Gross, director of the Architecture School’s Computational Design Lab, says that the Phase I grant for $100,000 will fund a six-month development period to ready production of the 24-block construction kits for sales to science centers. Playing with the kits will stimulate youngsters’ mental processes for solving problems and gaining confidence in dealing with complex systems of thought.
“Our vision is to work with science centers and other institutions where kids will be able to play with these very interactive toys as a way to stimulate the development of better strategies for learning,” Schweikardt says.
The play will stimulate a child’s intuitions about how patterns emerge among dynamic systems, even while they are having fun with the construction of active figures from individual roBlocks.
The purpose of the roBlocks, Schweikardt says, is to promote a child’s mental agility from recognizing the interplay of interdependent factors in problems – and, of course, to have fun as they play with dynamic blocks that can move, make noise, and act in unexpected ways.
“Toys influence and shape how we view the world,” he says.
In addition to the Carnegie Science Center, the developers work with the Ithaca, N.Y., Science Center near Cornell University, where Schweikardt is spending a semester of research. Relationships with other science centers to engage in the development of roBlocks are in the works.
A price for the kits has not been set. However, it is likely to be above $200–outside the range of play products for children but affordable for an institution to use in an educational program. The NSF grant also enables roBlocks to apply next year for Phase II support at a level between $500,000 and $1 million.
Source: roBlocks, Eric Schweikardt
Writer: Joseph Plummer
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