Code Club gives kids the chance to design a dancing robot

Youngsters are competing to win laptops by creating the UK's favourite dancing robot, in an online contest being run by Code Club, a brilliant initiative to get kids aged 9-11 interested in programming, in conjunction with Samsung.

The 'Robo-Boogie' competition is open to UK primary school children aged 11 and under, and challenges them to make their own dancing robot using a simple web app created by Code Club to familiarise them with the principles of coding.

The Robo-Boogie app provides kids with a selection of robots and musical styles to choose between, and either simple slider-based controls or a more advanced code-based interface with which they can program their robot's moves.

Says Code Club's Clare Sutcliffe, "This initiative provides an exciting and creative opportunity for children across the country to discover a little of the digital world they interact with regularly. We don't want to live in a world where young people just consume the web, we want to help them actively create the content they are engaging with."

There's a gallery of robotic creations online, and you can vote for your favourite terpsichorean droid until 26 November. A week after the voting's closed, the creator of the grooviest mechanoid will be revealed, and will win a Samsung 15" Ativ Book 4 laptop, as well as ten additional Samsung Ativ Book 4 laptops for their school.

The competition is the first in a series of events which marks the launch of Code Club's official partnership with Samsung. As part of the partnership, Samsung will be supporting Code Club in opening five dedicated Code Club: Regional Centres. The first one to open will be at Dragonhall Community Centre, London in December. For more information visit the Code Club site.

Words: Jim McCauley

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