PIPER LAUNCHES THE PIPER MAKE ROBOTICS EXPEDITION KIT, A HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE WITH BUILDING AND CODING ROBOTS AT HOME.
Piper Make Puts the Power of Robotics in Your Hands with the Robotics Expedition Kit. Build Two Kinetic Robots and Code Them Using Your Browser.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — October 19, 2021 —
Piper Learning, Inc., an award-winning STEAM education company, announced today the launch of their new Piper Make Robotics Expedition Kit, an add-on to their
Piper Make platform. With servo motors and custom laser cut wood pieces that can be assembled using an engineering Blueprint, the Kit enables users to get started with story-based lessons on our online platform. This new
Robotics Expedition Kit gives kids hands-on experience building the robots they see in the world around us. With two kinetic creations—the
Walker, ambulatory (quadruped), and the
Rover, an omnidirectional (3-roller)—the natural world as the inspiration for robotics design becomes not only understandable, but powerfully accessible.
The Make platform is browser-based, and compatible with Chromebooks and other computers, and is free of charge. Through storytelling-based lessons that motivate the hands-on building process, users learn to build with their Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller in a hands-on way. With interactive virtual representations of the microcontroller, translations of Google Blockly code to text-based CircuitPython, and more, Piper Make is designed to empower anyone to learn the basics of hardware and coding.
Starting October 19, 2021, customers will be able to preorder their Robotics Expedition Kits—which includes (4) Servo Motors, (2) Servo Wheels with Tires, Ultrasonic Range Finder, (13) Laser Cut, Laser Etched Wood pieces, 3D Printed Sensor holder, Screwdriver, and jumper wires—to use with their Piper Make Starter Kits. Shipping is expected to start on November 7, 2021, at which time tutorials will also launch on our free platform—Piper Make. Starter Kits, which include the Raspberry Pi Pico—Piper Make. Starter Kits, which include the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller, are available as a one-time $49.99 purchase.
To experience the Robotics Expedition Kit, users will need the Starter Kit (Raspberry Pi Pico, breadboard, LEDs, resistors, switches and wires) which they can seamlessly use with dozens of projects on the Piper Make platform. Five (5) new projects are included with the Robotics Kit as well. Key features include:
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Build Your Own Robots: Start by using the engineering Blueprint to assemble your Walker and Rover robots and learn how the pieces fit together to allow the widgets to move. Designed to inspire creativity and critical thinking about robotic design and inspiration drawn from the natural world, these robots allow a first foray into understanding the role of robotics—to improve and safeguard human functionality by mimicking repetitive tasks that we would ordinarily do.
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Piper Make Coding Interface: Plug your connected robots to your Raspberry Pi Pico and head over to Piper Make, our online, drag-and-drop coding interface to program your robots to move! Access a reference library of user-friendly descriptions for use in new projects and creations, and seamlessly extend the Piper experience. In addition, users can view the Python version of Google Blockly code in real-time while coding and understand the connection between text-based and visual programming.
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Raspberry Pi Pico: The powerful microcontroller from the Raspberry Pi Foundation is the newest on the market. Versatile and tiny, this board uses the new RP2040 microcontroller chip and features a powerful ARM M0 dual-core processor with programmable GPIO pins that make the possible applications endless.
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Chromebook/Classroom Compatibility: The Piper Make coding interface is accessible from your browser, allowing users to plug in their Pico and start prototyping immediately. Piper Make is ideally suited for collaboration and remote learning as well—visible during screen-sharing and with “Build Your Own Project” features to allow students to code projects and share with classmates and teachers. Building on the foundation of the Piper Premium Curriculum, the Piper Make platform features standards-aligned lessons to make educators’ experiences a joy.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY:
** Preorders from October 19, 2021 to November 7, 2021 at limited time pricing.
ABOUT PIPER:
Founded in 2014,
Piper, Inc. is an award-winning edtech start-up providing best in class STEAM education opportunities. From its headquarters in San Francisco, CA, Piper creates compelling STEAM learning experiences for individual learners and for schools. Through student-centered, hands-on STEAM education experiences that reflect the most current pedagogy, Piper supports educators, students and classrooms. Piper builds confidence in STEAM through project-based learning, spreads digital fluency to students and learners of all backgrounds and inspires the inventors of tomorrow.
PRESS CONTACT:
Shree Bose
Co-founder, Piper Inc.
shree at playpiper dot com
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