University robots take-over lessons at Hatfield school

University of Hertfordshire robots have helped inspire children aged between seven and 12 years old.

A selection of Hert’s cutting-edge research robots met dozens of young students at Hatfield Community Free School.

Silvia Moros, lecturer in the School of Technology and Computer Science, said:

“This activity is designed to give primary school children a fun "crash course" in robotics and to develop an interest and passion in STEM subjects.

“We created different activities with different robots: such as programming and designing activities, storytelling, 3D printing, and AI in nature.”

Members of Herts Robotics Research Group, who are based at the University’s dedicated Robot House, have been doing "Robotics Week" since 2018.

“It has always been very successful and well received by the school and their students. Our aim is to inspire the next generation to take an interest in robots and robotics and give them a sense of how science, technology and maths can be useful in the real world they will grow up in”, Silvia added.

Among the research and educational robots that the children got to meet across nine different sessions, were Kaspar, a humanoid robot that acts as a social companion to improve the lives of children with autism and other communication difficulties, and Pepper, an interactive robot which asked the children maths questions. Pepper is social humanoid robot which can recognise faces and human emotions. This session showed robots’ ability to have open conversations, and how they can be used in education.

Find out about studying robotics and artificial intelligence at Herts.