10 May 2019PopsciRosieReality inspires stem careers with ar building appPOPSCI: a scientific slant on popular culture
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A Swiss startup called RosieReality is giving Lego an AR makeover, while also teaching children programming skills. With a digital-skills gap impacting businesses, there are opportunities to tap into the screen habits of young audiences to inspire STEM careers in a playful and engaging way.

Author
Lucia Seoane-PampinLucia Seoane-Pampin is a behavioural analyst at Canvas8, which specialises in behavioural insights and consumer research. Born and raised in Spain, she loves experiencing different cultures and emotional expressions. She studied psychology and communications in Boston and has a master’s in digital & visual media.

The Zurich-based startup offers an AR-mobile experience, designed to spark interest in robotics and programming among children. A camera-based app designed for smartphones, the concept is centered around 'Rosie', an AR robot that inhabits a 'Lego-like' modular AR world within which users and their friends are tasked with building and solving world-size 3D puzzles. Solving the puzzles requires the programming of Rosie so she moves around the augmented world. RosieReality co-founder and CEO Selim Benayat says,“We use this new computational platform to enable kids to creatively build, solve and share world-sized puzzle games with friends and families. AR makes it possible for [kids] to have the same tangible and contextual sensation while giving them a bigger outlet for their creativity.”

RosieReality inspires stem careers with ar building appPatrick Schneider (2018)

Although children are spending more time on their phones than previous generations – children aged 8- to 11-years old spend 3.6 hours a day glued to a screen, for example – using building blocks can be beneficial to their development. In tapping into the screen habits of digitally native Gen Zers, RosieReality offers a new but tangible building experience. While Common Sense in the US teaching digital responsibility, Google is teaching Britons to be digitally dextrous and, by using AR – and targetting younger children – RosieReality is teaching children science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills at a younger age, in a gamified way. With this in mind, there are opportunities for brands and business to innovative and help inspire children into STEM careers.

Sophie Robinson is a Junior Behavioural Analyst at Canvas8. She has a degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester and always tries to deconstruct stereotypes of normality. When not questioning why she’s watching a short film or writing a screenplay.