I already talked about the global shortage of skilled workers. Actually, this topic is not really new. It developed over years. When the first industrial cobot was developed, it had been already evident that there was a lack of robot programmers on the market. At that point KUKA launched their sunrise system hoping to address Java programmers instead, as this was about the moment when Java became the most widely used programming language.
Fast forwarding 20 years however, the situation changed completely. Today there are practically no programmers available at all. There are certain aspects how this could happen, one is for sure the megatrend digitization which lead in general to a tremendous demand of programmers.
How can we overcome this shortage? Unfortunately, so far there seems to be no clear strategy how we can deal with this challenge. Personally, I do believe that the catch is to enlighten the fire of technology in our young ones. It turns out we cannot wait until someone else might or might not do this, apparently it’s up to us parents to thrill them. Of course, there are newly created STEM programs at school and technical school clubs as well. However, tech is complex. It cannot be handled by learning the way you learn for a test. Tech relies a lot on combination of knowledge and hence on experience which needs time to grow.
But how can you support your kids to not only get thrilled by robots, but also to practically dive into this topic? When you go to school, there is no such subject „robotics “. So, the question is, where and how they could start their journey?
First, if you want to help your kids to enter this wonderful field, depending on their age it means you will also have to do jump right into it – if you haven’t done so far. But this can be beautiful and I am sure it will give you the chance to learn something as well – and for sure you will have a lot of fun together.
Robotics consists of different disciplines like mechanical design (I am by myself a mechanical engineer), electronics and coding (and of course the nastier ones like mathematics and mechanics, but we don’t need to mention these right away…).
But where to start? While I don’t believe that it is a good idea to start classroom style lessons at home, I am sure you can have a lot of fun if you plan some projects together, which are fun and which help you both to get a better understanding.
As I started this journey with my kids, I will suggest some interesting projects to you if you decide to follow us on our way. The first little project is already included in this post. It’s a little Christmas challenge for you and your kid(s) – or just for you if you always wanted to start coding. Don’t worry everything you need is available for free, and I am sure you will manage it over the holidays.
What do you need for challenge?
Download and install „Scratch“ from MIT – you can obtain from the following link:
I only used sprites and a background which come with the installation. I added some costumes to the robot and created the bulbs and the text as separate sprites.
The result should look like this little film, but you can alter it completely to your taste. My kids already asked if they could use a different figure…
Let me know in the comments below if you want me to make a short video about how I put this challenge together – but for now: Go, make it!
I am wishing you a lot of fun with this challenge and a Merry Christmas to you and your beloved ones.