ROBOT CITY is a project that helps encourage youths to explore the world of robotics. The idea is to set up an interactive multimedia introduction into the world of robots and coding and provide a simulator to test ideas as well as robot city, a virtual city that lets young people showcase the robot projects they created. In addition learning materials will be provided in order to help curious young minds increase their skills. Europe as a knowledge society needs a lot more minds that are capable of building and developing new technology which is why getting young people interested in a topic such as robotics is extremely important. The “New priorities for EU cooperation ET 2020” report states that “knowing how to code is empowering. It allows to understand the digital world we live in and to shape it. Basic coding skills are essential for accessing the jobs of tomorrow and today.” Unfortunately it is very difficult to integrate robotics into national curricula and even if the willingness is there, in most countries not enough teachers are available with the skills to do it. In order to keep up with the high demand for programmers and engineers it is therefore crucial to explore more informal ways of learning, especially if youths can be motivated to teach themselves the required skills and go beyond where teachers could take them. The idea behind ROBOT CITY is that we don't simply create another curriculum for teaching how to program robots. Instead we focus on generating interest with an interactive video that lets the viewers make choices of a robot in a virtual world called ROBOT CITY and points them to a variety of good sources to get involved in robotics. The simulator which will be created will provide the opportunity to test out ideas and practice the skills of beginners. It offers a way into the world of robotics without the monetary investments that come with it. Once learners reach a point at which they ca build their own robots he project provides a virtual city for them, a place to showcase he results of the work. In the virtual city of robots learners will be able to claim a space for their robot and post pictures and videos as well as explanations on how they did it or code samples. This means that learners will be able to learn from other learners and inspire and help each other with ideas and comments. This learning hub with all of its materials will be free and open to anyone, and it will be easy for youth workers or teachers to make use of it for training and teaching purposes.
ROBOT CITY is a project that helps to encourage young people to explore the world of robotics. We have set up an interactive multimedia introduction to the world of robots and coding and provided a simulator to test how giving instructions to a robot works, as well as setting up a robot city, a virtual city that allows young people to showcase robotics projects. Additional materials have been provided, such as a manual and videos to be able to explain and use the Robot City application easily. Europe, as a knowledge society, needs many more minds capable of building and developing new technologies, so it is very important to get young people interested in a topic like robotics. The report "New priorities for EU cooperation ET 2020" states that "knowing how to code is empowering. It allows us to understand the digital world we live in and to shape it. Basic coding skills are essential for accessing the jobs of tomorrow and today". Unfortunately, it is very difficult to integrate robotics into national curricula and even if there is the will to do so, in most countries there are not enough teachers available with the skills to do so. Therefore, to keep up with the high demand for programmers and engineers, it is crucial to explore non-formal approaches to learning, especially if young people can be motivated to learn the required skills themselves and go beyond where teachers can take them. We have gone in this direction with the Robot City project, as we have created the app, available through the play store for free, tested it with teachers and young people and found that it perfectly meets the objectives of supporting robotics learning. It also allows self-managed learning, something that has been vital in this pandemic situation. Now more than ever it has been demonstrated that we depend on computer tools more than we had thought and that it is necessary to work on them, especially to support young people in their learning. With ROBOT CITY we are not just creating another curriculum to teach how to program robots. Instead, we focus on generating interest with an interactive video that allows viewers to choose a robot in a virtual world called ROBOT CITY and points them to a variety of sources to get involved in robotics. The simulator that has been created provides an opportunity for beginners to test ideas and practice their skills. It offers a way to enter the world of robotics without the monetary investments involved. Once students reach a point where they can build their own robots, the project provides them with a virtual city, a place to showcase the results of their work. In the virtual robot city, students can claim a space for their project, so that they can be inspired by the work of other young people in Europe. Both the simulator and the virtual city are available in the languages of the project partners: Spanish, German, Greek, Portuguese and Polish, as well as English, of course.