Child's Play: Australia's Newest Roboticists See Eye-to-Eye With R2-D2

Children as young as four can learn to program robots, according to an expert at Queensland University of Technology. Queensland University of Technology's (QUT) Christina Chalmers, who specializes in the teaching and application of robotics in classrooms, says robotic coding is a growth area in a range of industries, a trend that increases the demands on educators to promote student education in robotics. "Preliminary findings from a current study have shown even pre-school students have gone beyond simply playing games with a NAO robot," Chalmers says. Coding and robotics were implemented into Queensland's state primary schools this year. "Research tells us that if kids don't form positive attitudes towards science, maths, and technology early in life they can find it difficult to engage later on," she says, adding robotics provides an engaging way for both students and teachers to work together.