New robot toy
new robot toy
Profile for a Superb Cutie
Name: Wang Binghao
Nickname: Qiu Qiu
Age: 6
Skills: Programming, Soccer, Chess, Spanish, etc
Location: Metro Detroit, Michigan, USA
Here is a question for you: At the age of 6, what were you doing? For kids at this age in China, what they are playing is just the online game Honor of King. However, Qiu Qiu, a 6-year-old kid, has already embarked on his journey with new robot toy. Actually, it only took him a few months to figure out how to program independently and to accomplish several robots projects. He even earned himself the Award for Programming Master in a Super Show held by mblock.
Qiu Qiu with his Smart Lamp
The Eldest Child with Wide Interests and A Role Model
Qiu Qiu, together with his families, lives in Metro Detroit, Michigan, US. His dad works for a German auto company as an electric vehicle developer and his mom is responsible for taking care of three kids.
As the eldest child, Qiu Qiu cares a lot for his brothers and acts as a role model in many aspects. Besides, he is a boy with a wide range of hobbies and interests, like robot programming, soccer, chess, painting, Spanish, and Chinese delicacies.
Although in US, Qiu Qiu still shows great passion for Chinese and was awarded the first prize (Preschool Category) in the Chinese School Association of Michigan Speech Contest in 2016 and the No.1 (Grade-One Category) in the Chinese School of Detroit Speech Contest in 2017.
Qiu Qiu Playing the mBot with his Younger Brother
A Programmable Robot as a New Friend, A Bond with Makeblock Since Ever
Kids love robots and Qiu Qiu is no exception. In US, there are all kinds of robots exhibitions and contests, offering Qiu Qiu opportunities to familiarize himself with different robots since young.
As Qiu Qiu’s dad told him, “Robots are actually controlled by human beings and programs are the soul of a robot. If you can figure out how to program, then you can give life to robots. You can make them do anything as we order. ” Since then, a programmable robot camp has become what he wanted most for a summer vocation.
Last summer, Qiu Qiu finally got a chance to experience a three-week-long robot camp, but he just felt far from enough as time flew so fast.
His dad recalled, “We were searching online for some educational robot kits suitable for children aged 6. Then, we noticed mBot by chance. Simply speaking, it is exquisitely designed, safe enough and well-equipped with sorts of sensors. More importantly, its programming interface is visually block-based, so it is easy-to-use for preschool kids and children of lower grades. ”
A Smart Lamp Converted by Qiu Qiu from the mBot Car
From A Construction Learner to A Programming Think-tanker
This year, in June, Qiu Qiu and his dad succeeded in assembling their first new robot toy – mBot robot, and downloaded mblock (a game app for programming) on his iPad.
Qiu Qiu is a smart boy, so it didn’t take him much time to fulfill all the teaching tasks. Right then, Qiu Qiu’s dad was invited by the Message Center to join a mblock WeChat group.
Every week, tasks will be posted in the group. Qiu Qiu will accomplish them on schedule and urge his dad to work with him on new tasks. Whenever praised by teachers in the group, Qiu Qiu can be lighted up as always.
Qiu Qiu is Programming to Make the mBot Dance
That’s not the end of story. Later, Qiu Qiu wants to be more than a participator. He starts to think of helping teachers with the task preparation. Therefore, supported by teachers and dad, Qiu Qiu, for the first time, designed a challenging task for the mblock user group—mBot Maze.
mBot MaZe, based on some materials at home for scenes design, is used to enable children to explore fundamentals of a maze and some ABCs of programming, which attracts lots of children and receives positive reactions from parents and teachers.
mBot Maze, a Task Designed by Qiu Qiu for mblock
An Armored Vehicle out of mBot, Award for Programming Master
In July of this year, Qiu Qiu was awarded as Programming Master in the Super Show held by mblock.
His entry work for the contest is a story about a patrol armored vehicle. It is an armored vehicle which is converted from Lego building blocks and a mBot robot. Specifically speaking, the vehicle is programmed to patrol in a city constructed by Lego blocks. When it detects some suspicious cars, it will start a mode automatically: Stop-Alarm-Approach-Launch a Shell-Sweep.
When his armored vehicle was constructed, Qiu Qiu gave his work a lovely story, and did simple editing and dubbing as well.
Qiu Qiu’s Entry Work for the Contest, a mBot Armored Vehicle
Make Ideas Become Real, Program to Upgrade Children
Now, it is a new semester. Although tasked with after-school activities and classes, Qiu Qiu is still taking on the challenges posted by mblock each week. And Qiu Qiu’s dad will also be there to help Qiu Qiu with the challenges if he is available. When stuck with some programming troubles and failing to run the program properly, Qiu Qiu will receive some instructions from his dad on how to check the program running procedure , and how to debug a program.
Qiu Qiu’s dad expressed himself well: “It matters a lot for children to have their parents as partners and helpers. Actually, it is one of the reasons that may keep children enthusiastic about what they are doing. Besides, it is a good fortune for Qiu Qiu to have the chance to learn programming at such a young age. He can make his robot dream come true and mblock plays a crucial role in that.”
