3.14, a company that specializes in paper-craft robot technology, brought Kamibot Pi to DIS on April 14th. Mr. Jolly and CEO Mr. Chae signed an agreement that promised joint research and development of the corporation’s most recent product, which multiple local news sources covered.

The artificial intelligence (AI) robot opens the world of programming for novices through its “exciting curriculum and user-friendly features.” With paper craft skins available to put on the robot body, Kamibot allows students to merge creativity and coding. Ms. Katie said, “In the past, we used to have robotics, but we couldn’t really get to utilize it often. We thought that Kamibot is really straightforward and easy to utilize and that we can implement it to our kindergarten and elementary school students and possibly to middle school students.”

Great potential lies within. Since its release last June, 3.14 hosted summer camps that combined AI with art to create masterpieces. Mr. Chae said, “At the ‘Creative Skills with Robots’ camp, students experienced generative AI, where you write something in a prompt and a program draws it for you. We also had students hold an exhibition to showcase the artworks they made with robots.” 

Mr. Chae also explained that students could use the product to create drama shows. He said, “In the case of our Kamibot drama program, kids first learn how to code the robots’ basic functions. They then get into teams and choose a piece to perform, and start making the characters, writing scenarios, etc. Finally, they create a stage and perform their plays.” 

The bot takes the high entry barrier away from conventional coding – Python, HTML, and Java – and allows kids to easily apply it to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) projects. Ms. Katie said, “[I think kids] can enjoy the coding process because [learning from scratch] can be really daunting and very complicated. So [Kamibots] will be very accessible for young students. And then hopefully we can even do more events, like drawing competitions or play performances with Kamibots.”

DIS plans to implement these new bots into their curriculum for the 2023-24 school year. As Ms. Katie said, “[DIS] really hopes that we can utilize these Kamibots for studying in the next school year, often, not just like, ‘Okay, we have the Kamibots and we’ll try to use them.’” With this new addition, Jets can now realize that coding is an easy-to-learn, essential part of our daily lives.