Educator Chris Clay and innovation proponent Ranui Sustainable met more than 70 Northland school students last week to show them how to design, build, programme and even race robots.
Mr Clay visited Bream Bay College and Mangakahia Area School. His mission was to prove that building a robot requires innovation and resourcefulness above expensive equipment.
"For the last few years I've been playing with all kinds of robotic bits and bobs and exploring how and why kids might create with them. During this time I've developed an appreciation for how expensive it is for schools to invest in robotics kits," said Mr Clay.
Now Mr Clay has developed a kit that lets children build and code their own robot for less than $30. The critical components needed to make a robot can be sourced cheaply, opening the opportunity to learn robotic science to everyone.
"The notion that science and technology is expensive and something for 'gifted' kids is fundamentally wrong," Mr Clay said. "I'm not trying to sell robots. I just wanted to show that it could be done."
