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      RoboticsTopicTypeVideo

      Anki Makes Programming Easy With Drag and Drop Coding

      With an easy-to-use interface based on Scratch, you can now command Anki's Cozmo to do complex tasks without any programming experience

      Celia Gorman
      01 Jul 2017
      Celia Gorman
      personal robotstype:videosoftwarePythoneducationAnkieducational robotsCozmorobot toysscratchsdkrobots for kids

      When Anki introduced Cozmo almost exactly one year ago, we started off with a bit of skepticism, and a feeling that Anki was going slightly overboard with the kinds of promises that it was making for this cute and capable little robot. What was more exciting to us was when Anki followed up a few weeks later with Cozmo’s software development kit, or SDK, allowing access to a variety of very sophisticated features through relatively simple lines of code.

      This week, Anki announced Code Lab, which takes that SDK and adds a graphical drag-and-drop interface that makes it incredibly simple to get Cozmo to do complex tasks involving vision, manipulation, and decision making, even if you have zero programming experience (like me). It’s fun, it’s easy, it’s affordable, and last week, I tried it out for myself, with a little help from Anki co-founder and president Hanns Tappeiner.

      As an absolute amateur, even an easy SDK is over my head. But Anki’s new Code Lab is designed to be used anyone—including 5-year-old children. Cozmo is charming when it learns your name and face. Code Lab draws you in with coding challenges that are more games than lessons. And now even I can program a facial recognition app.

      Read More: Anki's Code Lab Brings Sophisticated Graphical Programming to Cozmo Robot

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      Evan Ackerman

      Evan Ackerman is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. Since 2007, he has written over 6,000 articles on robotics and technology. He has a degree in Martian geology and is excellent at playing bagpipes.

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      dronesgadgetstype:videoEast Africa dronesmappingTanzaniaAfricadelivery drones360 video

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      You can follow the action in a 360-degree video in three ways: 1) Watch on your computer, using your mouse to click and drag on the video; 2) watch on your phone, moving the phone around to change your view; or 3) watch on a VR headset for the full immersive experience.

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      dronestype:videoEast Africa dronesRwandadelivery dronesZipline360 video

      With 360 video, IEEE Spectrum takes you behind the scenes with one of the world’s first drone-delivery companies. Zipline, based in California, is using drones to deliver blood to hospitals throughout Rwanda. At an operations center in Muhanga, you’ll watch as Zipline technicians assemble the modular drones, fill their cargo holds, and launch them via catapult. You’ll see a package float down from the sky above a rural hospital, and you’ll get a closeup look at Zipline’s ingenious method for capturing returning drones.

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      www.youtube.com
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      All the locations are accessible via the subway, and many are free to visit. If you do visit, take a selfie and post a link in the comments below.

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