Drawer robot to reinvent kids learning

• What’s the project story?

3 years ago, we (Rodrigo, Javier, Mario, Ausencio and Eduardo) met during Arduino courses organized in the makerspace 330ohms. We didn’t know each other and we came with different objectives. Ausencio, the only still working as teacher, went to find a way to improve his courses. As retired computer science engineers, the rest of us came for the pleasure to learn and to develop new technology skills we can share with our grandchildren. We quickly got along so well that we decided to create an association, called “Hijos Del Rey Arduino”. We organize weekly afternoon to share knowledge about Arduino, help each other and have fun. The work of Ausencio and our family business in FabLab@School were the trigger that made us designing pedagogic courses with Arduino technology. We strongly believe in this technology potential for kids to learn while having fun and developing soft skills. We got our inspiration from the best practices of FabLab@School to contribute, in our way, of the education system improvement. We developed Arduino kits that we improved after each kids courses we gave in public schools until we had the idea to develop a full project with its drawer robot.

• How the workshop was useful ?

They help us to learn all the possibilities of Arduino and to combine fabrication process to build a low cost robot that every kids can afford.

• What’s the project’s greatest success so far?

We succeeded to design courses where kids came out with confidence, pleasure and knowledge. We are proud to show a new way of learning, where the teacher is replaced by a facilitator who only guide the kids without giving him the solution. We are amazed to see the synergy created among students and facilitators and the benefits for all of them.

• What’s your greatest failure(s)& lesson(s) so far?

Applying the all FabLab@School methodology requires experience so we decided to start with the basis without looking for perfection from the beginning.

• What’s your vision for the project & next steps?

To spread the courses and methodology to a larger scale, we are now focusing on teachers rather than kids. We teach them how to adapt their course and learn to their students Arduino with the state of mind we are advocating.

• How can anyone interested can contribute to the project?

If you are a teacher who wants to discover this course or a retired person eager to learn and to share, contact us!