CASTALIA AUTHORIZED AS DISTRIBUTOR IN JAPAN FOR THE SALES OF “OZOBOT”, THE SMALLEST PROGRAMMING EDUCATIONAL ROBOT SERIES THAT DREW ATTENTION AT GOOGLE I/O
BRIDGING THE LEARNING DIVIDE IN PROGRAMMING EDUCATION ON PAPER, TABLET, AND PC ALIKE
Castalia Co. Ltd. (headquarters: Tokyo, Japan, hereinafter “Castalia”) has been authorized as the distributor of Ozobot, an educational robot series introduced by Evollve Inc. (headquarters, California, U.S.A.) and launches the domestic sales of the products from November 1, 2016.
Ozobot is a small-size robot developed by Evollve Inc. in 2014. It has a “line-tracing” function that allows it automatically trace the lines drawn on paper or tablet devices. Under the control of the command named “Ozocode”, a series of combinations of colors, it reads in and executes commands such as “turn right” and “pause”.
The following year, 2015, saw the development of “Ozobot Bit”, the second-generation series. With a new function named “OzoBlockly” based on “Google Blockly”, a block-programming environment which allows to create a program by combining blocks developed by Google, Ozobot Bit is capable of reading programs created on tablet devices and PCs and manipulate them freely.
Ozoblockly reads the program through visible light communication (VLC) and therefore does not need dedicated cables or Bluetooth. Programs created by combining the blocks are converted into optical information to be read in. In addition, the preview mode of JavaScript, its programming language, is rewritten into a text-based programming language in actual use, which allows the learner to naturally go on to the next learning phase. It works on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux PCs, and on iOS and Android tablets.
Providing STEM education enjoyable for every generation
Ozobot can be used both “unplugged”, as an educational material that does not use computers, and a computer-based programming educational material. Its potential to bridge the divide in the steps of learning that had generated in the conventional programming education won admiration and the series was featured at Google I/O 2016, an annual engineers’ conference held by Google. It has already been introduced in elementary STEM education in countries such as the US and South Korea to name a few.
On a related note, CodeEdu/, an ongoing course created by Castalia and Joetsu University of Education for the fostering of elementary-level programming educators, offers a course using Ozobot Bit. The course is offered in the flipped-classroom style that combines online and physical schoolings. Students acquire knowledge and concepts important for programming education, as well as practical programming skills and teaching methods through a six-month period of mobile learning, physical schooling, and workshops.
Ozobot website for Japan: http://ozobot.jp/CodeEdu/ ,
a course for future code educators: http://www.codeedu.info/
[Ozobot product handled by Castalia]
Product name: Ozobot Bit
Colors: Crystal White or Titan Black
Power charging time: approx. 35 minutes
Operating time: approx. 60-120 minutes
Purchase: Please purchase from the Amazon URL below:
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9GO6FR
Sales launch celebration special offer: the first 100 products will be sold at JPY8,800 (tax and domestic shipping included)
Warranty: One-year return guarantee starting from the date of purchase
Image: Ozobot Bit running automatically by tracing the lines on a piece of paper. When running on colored lines, the product glows in the color corresponding to the color of the line.
Image: Ozobot Bit reading the program created by OzoBlockly.
[About Castalia Co., Ltd.]
Castalia Co., Ltd. is a company that reinvents learning under the slogan of “find solutions to social problems with the fusion of education and IT”. We develop mobile learning platform “Goocus” and supply it to corporations and educational institutions. In addition, we collaborate with Shingakukai, an educational conglomerate that operates mainly in Nagano Prefecture, for the curriculum design at Code Academy High School ( http://code.ac.jp ), Japan’s first extensive correspondence high school that sets programming (coding) as mandatory subject.
【For more information and interview requests, please contact : Castalia Co., Ltd.】
Email: info [AT] castalia.co.jp (When you contact us, convert [AT] into at sign.)