Collingwood Public Library is adding artificial intelligence to its book stacks.
Mini robots have bleeped and blorped their way to the children and youth section as the latest in the library’s toolkit for young learners.
“It’s a great way for kids to free play,” said Ashley Kulchycki, children and teen services supervisor at Collingwood Public Library. “They are all aimed at building STEM skills, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math.”
The robots were purchased thanks to a grant from the Blue Mountain Village Association.
There are four different kinds of robots, including two that are not screen-dependent.
The Ozobots are loonie-sized domes that follow a pre-made track. The bot can turn, spin, reverse on the spot based on the colour it reads on the “map.” Students can create their own map and problem-solve along the way to make a track the robot can follow.
Cubelets are like lego, but with brains inside. This is a do-it-yourself robot made of cubes. Each cube has a different function. One will serve as a battery to power the bot, another can act as a light, another as a spinner. Kids can build a bot with different functions, the idea is to make the blocks work together to have the robot perform a certain function.
“They can explore and learn right and wrong ways of putting parts together,” said Kulchycki. “They have to solve problems to make it work.”
The Sphero Sprk is an orb robot controlled by an app. Kids can control the robot’s movements or program a series of movements for a dance. It helps form fine motor skills and gives a better understanding of the technical side of movement and robotics.
Lastly, there’s dot and dash, two brightly-coloured robots that will interact with each other doing things like playing catch. Dash also has a talent for music. With a xylophone attached to dash, students can program notes via a tablet app and the robot will play a song.
Kulchycki said the library hopes to expand its existing community outreach with the robots. She hopes the robots will help boost the community engagement opportunity, particularly for older students in the Grade 4 to 8 range.
The library unveiled Dash and the Ozobots at the Think Big community event on Friday, July 20 outside town hall. Kulchycki said she would also be testing them out at a summer program called Coders Corner.
Want to try out the robots? Contact Kulchycki via email here.
Here’s a video of the robots in action.
