Photon Robot

Meet the first robot in the world that develops together with children. With Photon they can:

Children love to learn by experimenting. Acquiring logical thinking ability is the key to success in their future life. Playing with most of educational toys feels like a chore and gets boring quickly. And that’s why we decided to build Photon.

STORYTELLING DRIVEN LEARNING ► Photon’s story motivates children to gain knowledge while keeping them engaged in a fun tale similar to popular comic books and cartoons.

DAILY CHALLENGES ► The robot gives kids programming related challenges. After coding simple programs, Photon can perform hundreds of tasks and show living proof of how lines of code affect reality.

FREEDOM OF CUSTOMIZATION ► Finishing challenges awards experience points known from RPG games. Children can use them to unlock new senses for the robot or boost his parameters according to their taste. No two robots will be the same!

PAIRED MOBILE APP ► Photon is integrated with an intuitive child-friendly application for smartphones and tablets that lets kids interact with their robot and create their own programs.

EASILY DIGESTIBLE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE ► The language used by Photon is based on colorful blocks and inspired by Scratch and Google Blockly. Even a 6 year old can master it in no time.

The robot develops along his owner by gaining new abilities, senses and functionalities with each programming related task completed. Completing a quest to create a simple program may let the kid pick some sort of upgrade for Photon, like the ability to see or detect obstacles. This way, progress is visible right away and works as wonderful motivational tool.

It's not just another toy, it's a true friend and companion.

The user communicates with Photon through the “Photon-Human Translator”® (a smartphone application). The robot presents a unique story with gradually harder challenges. All stories have been developed with the involvement of educators, psychologists, and game specialists. Thanks to 10 programmable sensors you can send Photon on specific missions like going through a maze while detecting obstacles or following a child's hand as Photon passes safely through a hazardous lava filled cave!

Step by step children encounter further challenges which teach them how modern technology works. They study the basics of programming as well as exercise their ability to think logically.

The application creates additional challenges designed in a manner that allows children to play together with their parents Children are able to proudly show off their problem solving skills to their moms and dads while parents get the opportunity to spend time with their children and support them. We want to help in building this relationship.

Finishing different tasks earns you points and allows progressing to the next level in Photon. Points may be used to further upgrade the robot, like unlocking new sensor functions, new ways to interact, and to personalize it according to your child’s preferences. No two robots will have the same set of features! That’s a first! After numerous trials and research with children, we know that it is an incredibly effective motivator.

Photon is equipped with a number of sensors which allow it to “feel” and interact with the surrounding world.

Teaching programming takes place in steps of increasing difficulty. The application guides your child through the basics of programming and explains in detail how all the blocks that constitute programs work.

Children may program the robot using a tablet or a smartphone, through an intuitive visual block language, inspired by well-known and proven languages for children – Scratch from MIT and Blockly from Google. We’ve simplified the language to create a programing engine suitable for children (e.g. complicated settings or excessive/negative numbers have been removed). Additionally it has been adjusted to the capabilities of the robot and the mobile devices it works on. The only limit will be your child’s imagination.

In the beginning Photon can’t do anything and is just your everyday plastic toy. That doesn’t last long though. Kids connect with him through the app, get acquainted and receive their first coding related missions. Each task completed gives them experience points which can be spent on robot’s development. They can for example:

► Make Photon’s wheels faster, which lets him perform better at many endeavors 

► Unlock his vision module allowing him to notice them, as well as get better at avoiding obstacles 

► Make his eyes glow in a completely new color

► Teach him to react to sounds and many more

Each new function and sense unlocked motivates them to experiment and gives a bigger set of tools usable in programming. 

Just like a growing child, the robot gets smarter, stronger and keeps developing. RPG-like freedom of choice lets kids personalize their robots to their own tastes. Children are proud when their progress and successes in studying can be shown off and appreciated.

Please click here to view Lesson Plan A Attachments

Please click here to view Lesson Plan B Attachments

Please click here to view Lesson Plan C Attachments

Please click here to view Photon's Lesson Plan A

Please click here to view Photon's Lesson Plan B

Please click here to view Photon's Lesson Plan C