Last week, the top 20 CODE4FUN robotics students went on a special tour to the Magic Lab at University of Technology Sydney.

The Magic Lab is a pioneer and a leader conducting transdisciplinary research into strategic and disruptive innovations that will transform society in the coming decade. The Lab is home to the only PR2 robot in Australia and programs for Pepper, Nao, and Aibo as well as custom-built robots.

This excursion was organised precisely for those CODE4FUN students, who has shown their huge interest in robotics and artificial intelligence. All the students were given the opportunity to learn from UTS Human-Robot Interaction researchers about the latest innovations in robotics technology. The students also participated in robotics workshops and got hands-on experience designing a social behaviour for the Pepper robot, the world’s first social humanoid robot able to recognise faces and basic human emotions.

CODE4FUN Head of Teaching Jesse Clark, who is also UTS Robotics researcher and a core member of the UTS Centre for Artificial Intelligence, guided the students through all the aspects of programming Pepper to help them understand how robot’s mind works. It was absolutely amazing to see how each student in his or her personal manner interacted with the Pepper robots and learn from them as well.

Thank you very much the Magic Lab team for having us and for giving our students such a valuable knowledge and experience in the world of the future and robots.

Check out some of the photos from the day below: