Primo can best be described as a playful physical programming interface that helps teach children programming logic without the need for literacy.
Powered by an Atmel-based Arduino board, the Primo play-set uses shapes, colors and spacial awareness to instruct programming logic through a tactile, warm and magical learning experience. According to the folks at primo.io, Primo comprises three primary items:
- Cubetto – a friendly robot.
- The board – a physical programming interface.
- The code – a set of instruction blocks (Forward, Left, Right and Function).
“The goal of the game is to guide Cubetto to his destination, represented by a house, a big cube, or any other object of your choice,” a primo.io rep wrote in a recent Kickstarter post.
“The robot executes in sequence the instructions placed in the board. By playing with Primo, children experiment with the queue of instructions. There’s not a single solution or path to follow, [so] it’s interesting to see how different children come up with different solutions.”
The primo.io rep also emphasized that Primo should be perceived as a tool which empowers children to become creators – not just consumers within the “digitalized” world we live in.
“Programming is an incredible tool that empowers people, it changes the perspective on problem solving and logic in general. Not to mention real-world applications: our lives are basically ruled by software, from airports to hospitals, music, communication, everything is now digital,” the rep explained.
“Mastering logic from an early stage of learning creates the right mindset to assimilate more notion-related content. This is not only our point of view, governments around the world started to heavily support educational coding programs in [recent] years. Skills are mastered gradually. Mountains are climbed one step at a time. Think of Primo as the very first step in a child’s programming education. Primo provides the very basic ABC of programming logic.”
Interested in learning more about the Atmel-based, Arduino-powered Primo? You can check out the project’s official page on Kickstarter.
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