Kids experience the future of technology at Kidzania Kidz & Tech 3.0

By Digital News Asia August 24, 2018

Makeblock invites kids to build a robot using mBots, a do-it-yourself kit that includes coding
Kids can test their piloting skills in the Drone Obstacle Challenge, using Airblocks

Kids experience the future of technology at Kidzania Kidz & Tech 3.0

FROM Aug 18 – Sept 16, KidZania Kuala Lumpur brings the future of technology to life with KidZ & Tech 3.0, a month-long programme that allows kids to interact with tools and programmes that utilise Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics, which will greatly influence the way people play, learn and work in the years to come.

“Technology runs the modern world, and this will become even more prevalent as artificial intelligence- and robotics-based careers and industries become commonplace. As a parent, I’m motivated to ensure that my children are educated and prepared for a future where different forms of technology are seamlessly woven into the fabric of daily life.

“Virtual and robotic assistants, smart homes and self-driving cars already exist and there is so much more to come. Living and working with technology is inevitable and I hope that children experiencing KidZ & Tech 3.0 will be inspired by the infinite possibilities it brings,” said Shahrul Nizar Ahmad, mayor of KidZania Kuala Lumpur.

KidZ & Tech 3.0 gives children more opportunities to ‘Learn Life Today’ and one of the fastest-growing areas is AI. Google Malaysia puts it to use by taking kids on an entertaining Emoji Scavenger Hunt that the whole family can enjoy.

Using experimental neural network AI to recognise real world objects, players are given an emoji which they must then find in the real world; each step of the hunt is completed when a picture is automatically snapped that corresponds to the prompted emoji. The game confirms it’s a match before they are given the next clue.

“At Google we're big on AI and making things smart, and the key to that is machine learning — teaching computers to recognise patterns by looking at many examples, rather than programming it with specific rules,” said Zeffri Yusof, head of Communications and Public Affairs, Google Malaysia.

"Google uses machine learning for tasks like language understanding, translation, speech recognition, computer vision, ranking and recommendations at scale, and we hope experiencing this will make children more interested and curious about AI."

For more hands-on fun, Makeblock invites kids to build a robot of their own using mBots, a do-it-yourself kit that includes simple coding to create a personalised robotic friend.

Kids can also test their piloting skills in the Drone Obstacle Challenge, using Airblocks, a magnetically-assembled, programmable flying robot to navigate a customised aerial course.

Overall, KidZ & Tech 3.0 features activities across five areas: AI-inspired Emoji Scavenger Hunt activity, Virtual & Augmented Reality (VR games, Be Internet Awesome game, DIY AR Greeting Cards), Coding & Robotics, Forensic Science (UKM Forensics, which gives kids a look at crime scene investigation with its Fingerprint Dusting and UV Light Experiment), and Creative Photography (Canon Light Tail Photography, U Mobile Clone Photography).

Book tickets online now and get 20% off admission with the promo code <KZTECH>

KidZ & Tech 3.0 is supported by Canon Malaysia, Google Malaysia, MSP Systems (Makeblock), UKM Forensics and U Mobile.

For more information about activities and events at KidZania Kuala Lumpur, visit www.kidzania.com.my or www.facebook.com/KidZaniaKualaLumpur.