Preparing kids for a hi-tech future
CHILDREN today are more attuned to technology than ever before, but there’s more to it than just smartphones, games and movies. From Aug 18 – Sept 16, KidZania Kuala Lumpur brings the future of technology to life with KidZ & Tech 3.0 – a month-long programme that allows kids to interact with tools and programmes that utilise Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics.
“Technology runs the modern world and this will become even more prevalent as artificial intelligence and robotics-based careers and industries become commonplace. As a parent, I’m motivated to ensure my children are educated and prepared for a future where different forms of technology are seamlessly woven into the fabric of daily life.
“Living and working with technology is inevitable and I hope children experiencing KidZ & Tech 3.0 will be inspired by the infinite possibilities it brings,” said KidZania Kuala Lumpur mayor, Shahrul Nizar Ahmad.
KidZ & Tech 3.0 gives children more opportunities to “Learn Life Today” and one of the fastest-growing areas is AI. Google Malaysia puts it to use with an entertaining Emoji Scavenger Hunt the whole family can enjoy.
Using experimental neural network AI to recognise real-world objects, players are given an emoji to find in the real world; each step of the hunt is completed when a picture is automatically snapped that corresponds to the prompted emoji. The game confirms it’s a match before they are given the next clue.
“At Google we’re big on AI and making things smart and the key to that is machine learning – teaching computers to recognise patterns by looking at many examples, rather than programming it with specific rules,” said Google Malaysia Communications and Public Affairs head, Zeffri Yusof.
“Google uses machine learning for tasks like language understanding, translation, speech recognition, computer vision, ranking and recommendations at scale and we hope experiencing this will make children more interested and curious about AI.”
For more hands-on fun, Makeblock invites kids to build a robot using mBots, a do-it-yourself kit that includes simple coding to create a personalised robotic friend. Kids can also test their piloting skills in the exciting Drone Obstacle Challenge using Airblocks, a magnetically assembled, programmable flying robot.
Overall, KidZ & Tech 3.0 features activities across five areas – AI-inspired Emoji Scavenger Hunt activity, Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR games, Be Internet Awesome game, DIY AR Greeting Cards), Coding and Robotics, Forensic Science (UKM Forensics, which gives kids a look at crime scene investigation with its Fingerprint Dusting and UV Light Experiment) and Creative Photography (Canon Light Tail Photography, U Mobile Clone Photography).
Don’t miss these and many more interactive learning experiences at KidZ & Tech 3.0 – book tickets online now and get 20% off admission with the promo code <KZTECH>
KidZ & Tech 3.0 is proudly supported by Canon Malaysia, Google Malaysia, MSP Systems (Makeblock), UKM Forensics and U Mobile.
Look out for KidZania Kuala Lumpur this MATTA Fair at Hall 5, booths 5023–5026.
■ For more details about activities and events at KidZania Kuala Lumpur, visit www.kidzania.com. my or www.facebook.com/ KidZaniaKualaLumpur, or call the KidZania Careline 1300 88 KIDZ (5439) from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday.