Saudi children queue up to build their own robots
Artificial intelligence is the future, says veteran educator with an eye on the next generation
Saudi children aged from five to their late teens are flocking to classes where they learn how to build their own robots.
The “Robot Academy” in Alkhobar is the brainchild of Saud Almuhaidib, who has more than 40 years’ experience in education and wrote a computer science textbook used in high schools in the Kingdom.
He wanted to give young people a head start in this emerging field, and decided to start with his hometown.“Robots is the new world,” he told Arab News. “Robots and artificial intelligence is the science that will be in every science.”
When a session at the Robot Academy gets underway the room soon begins to buzz with activity as the youngsters get busy. Some of them work in groups, some alone, but either way they are entirely focused on the tasks at hand, with not a single smartphone in sight.
Everyone is busy working building the machines, typing the commands that bring the robots to life into control programs on tablet computers, or trying to figure out exactly how to get their robots to move in exactly the way they want.
The academy has colorful bins filled with Lego bricks, a room with cars that students control by inputting commands and then testing them. And of course there is also plenty of space for the youngsters to build robots and let them roam, trundle or walk around.
Almuhaidib’s wife Nuhad, who teaches the girls at the academy, said: “The world has entered the fourth industrial revolution and artificial intelligence is an essential part of it. We must strive to build the capabilities of our girls and prepare a promising generation for the future.”
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