Cue Robot from Wonder Workshop: The Intelligent Learning Companion

The robot Cue introduces children to the topic of programming and offers a great interface from simple drag & drop operation to a real Java source code. Wonder Workshop thus introduces the "big brother" of the Dash robot, which also relies on emotional artificial intelligence.

Robot Cue with emotional artificial intelligence

Jürgen Groh: The Dash learning robot is an old acquaintance of mine from last year, but I haven't seen it yet! Dr. Christoph Rose: That's Cue, Cue is new this year. Cue is Dash's big brother. After the children were able to learn the basics of programming with Dash, it is Cue who is now taking them further. It inspires older children, brings emotional intelligence to the children and enables them to take the step from Block to Java programming. Jürgen Groh: Okay, that sounds relatively complicated, how old are the children? Dr. Christoph Rose: The children who play with Cue start at the age of 11. Then they are in a situation where they can exploit their full potential with Cue. Cue starts very simply, but at the same time Cue has sensors, built-in possibilities, dependencies and reactions that make programming with it almost infinite.

Jürgen Groh: You also have a tablet with you! What are the main steps in the programming process? Dr. Christoph Rose: Each menu section on the left has different options, which I drag and drop into the menu section. Then I can set exactly what I want. At the same time, and this is the advanced version that is now possible, I can jump to Java and have a real program code that would be used later during actual programming. This allows me to understand the actual connection between block programming and Java. This is the ideal preparation for children.

Become familiar with Java programming while playing

Jürgen Groh: Does that mean the optimal preparation for a profession that goes in this direction? Dr. Christoph Rose: It's not about training only IT engineers or only programmers, that's not what it's about at all. Our goal is for children to have the opportunity to understand their digital environment in the 21st century in which they grow up and to become truly responsible citizens of the digital environment, to see what is possible with software today and how the basics work. Jürgen Groh: Now I would like to see it in action. Dr. Christoph Rose: Here we have the program code running and just changing the colors. Then this cue moves forward. It's as simple as that. Jürgen Groh: Can I only control Cue by programming it beforehand or would that also work with a joystick? Or is that not the intention? Dr. Christoph Rose: Yes, Cue can also be controlled with a joystick. We want the children to have very easy access, so that the first sense of achievement comes within seconds. When you go into easy mode, you have the option to control the robot and see how the sensors work at the same time. Because you can see that the sensors perceive very precisely where there are obstacles in front of or behind it.

Jürgen Groh: Can we let him ride on the ground? Dr. Christoph Rose: Yes, that's what he does best! Jürgen Groh: It also looks really musical. Dr. Christoph Rose: That's right. Cue can sing songs and when he hears the music he can start dancing. Jürgen Groh: I think this is a typical example of how children's toys and digitalization are becoming more and more intertwined. Is this the trend of the future, or will there be a backward movement again? Dr Christoph Rose: We hope that sensible digitalization can become part of children's toys. It's not the case that every form of digitalization is always right. By no means do we want children to only play with tablets. And if the children play with the tablet, then they should play something they can benefit from themselves. That's what we're working on. That the children prepare themselves for the digital environment in which they grow up.

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