They were there at the first edition of RomeCup in 2007 with Project Rob&Ide. Linda Giannini and Donato Mazzei have developed a shared project between two distant schools: the kindergarten at the Istituto comprensivo Don Milani in Latina and students on the Mechatronics Curriculum at IIS Archimede in Treviglio (Bergamo).
Over the course of time, the two professors have published the results achieved at various venues (ABCD, Congresso Sie-L, convegno GARR, Didamatica, Expo, e.Learning, Open Network for New Science, Raccontare i Robot, TED, …) and they have never missed the annual RomeCup appointment!
"At first, Rob&Ide was about imagination and the development of a humanoid robot (mechanical arm, head and body) thanks to the creativity of younger and older children and the scant technological resources available in the two schools,” explain the professors. “However, over the course of time, the development of robotic technology, networks and social media have provided a further drive to sharing, making our ICT experiences more useful. We developed Project Pinocchio 2.0 with Arduino, Bee Bot, Cubetto, Lego Robotics, SapientinoDoc, sensors, and IOT (Internet of Things) devices that can now be easily found and are accessible to schools."
At RomeCup 2018, the two schools will man a stand with interactive demos thanks to prototypes programmed with Arduino, including controls for a robotic hand, an arm and a mobile Lego EV3 Robot. The children, parents and teachers will be able to visit the stand and test various programming languages (C++, Scratch, and a graphic language for NXT EV3 based on LABview) through icons and graphic symbols.
"The aim is to pursue our decade-old project on robotics, involving kindergarten and primary school students in a fun and creative manner. They will be the protagonists of the future and the fourth industrial revolution,” explains Teacher Linda Giannini with her usual enthusiasm.
Pinocchio 2.0 and the anthropomorphic robot
Six-year-old Laura’s Robot that waves to teachers and children thanks to an Arduino Chipset
A historical photo sent to us by Linda
RomeCup 1st edition, Campidoglio: Emanuele Micheli, Salvatore Terranova, Maurizio Capobianchi, Donato Mazzei, Linda Giannini, Romano Santoro, Silvia Celani, Laura Emmi and her husband.
