Christmas 2024: how a group of schoolchildren created a robotic nativity scene using artificial intelligence

The third and fifth grade children have thought about every detail, remembering the most endearing characters of this date: from the star of Bethlehem, the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the animals, to the Christmas tree. Christmas and a Santa Claus pulling his sleigh with Rudolph the reindeer.

And robotics in the 21st century is increasingly present in our lives. In this case, the children have worked with special Lego pieces that differ because they are electronic pieces. To give movement to the small robots they used software called WeDo1.0, WeDo 2.0 and tools. artificial intelligence.

Sayuri Almirón, teacher in charge of the project, explained to The Commerce that these software allow the parts to receive “student programming through icons, very friendly figures that allow them to choose the color of the lights, the sounds, the engine speed and other commands for the sensors”.

The students of the Ramiro Prialé school, in San Juan de Miraflores, learn with educational robotics. (Video: Broadcast)

Almirón is a 2024 outstanding teacher at the Telefónica Foundation, an institution that collaborated with the robotics program. In addition, her colleague Gisela Sarabia has been at work with her.

“The robotic manger includes a manger that moves with cams, receives an order from a motor, has axes, gears so that it can move, so that it can have a swing and at the same time the star of the manger can move”the teacher explained. Around 800 Lego pieces were used and, although assembly could take one or two days, the project was developed combining hours of classes since it involves educational robotics.

“It allows us to be able to introduce mathematics to work, for example, multiplication. Also to be able to work on communication, storytelling, writing literary texts”indicated about this discipline. In total, more than 50 boys and girls between 8 and 12 years old from the 3rd and 5th grades of primary school participated. The purpose is to expand to more rooms.

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Why use robotics in education?

The Ramiro Prialé school is not just any institution for teacher Sayuri Almirón. She tells us that it is the school where she spent her primary and secondary school years. In recent years he has trained in robotics and even in artificial intelligencebringing educational robotics to your alma mater .

“The motivation is double. Imagine, I feel happy and I see myself reflected in each child by being able to work at my beloved school.”the teacher tells us. And why educational robotics? What’s special about it?

He points out that, in this case, the robot is not an end but a means. That is, through robotics we seek to develop students’ skills.

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“It makes them motivated, it makes them want to be able to work and develop their creativity, they develop socio-emotional skills and they also develop scientific skills, math skills, creativity itself, art, even the area of ​​English”highlights the role of robotic technology.

But it is a particular attitude. The teacher is not afraid to use technology, even in this era when cell phones, AI and other technologies are being restricted from schools in some countries.

“It is important to include technology because it is part of students’ daily lives. They already have devices in their homes, they have computers, the Internet and we can use them profitably as long as there is a pedagogical intention, an educational intention. “Teachers do not improvise”highlighted the role of new technologies in education.

In that sense, he considered that “students are technologically skilled” and it is the teachers who cannot be left behind, and teach the students that “work ethically and responsibly, who know how to use technology for learning”.