At Robotical, we wanted to build a simple, powerful, and joyful introduction to physical computing—something that could spark creativity and imagination in the classroom while teaching the fundamentals of computer science. As we explored the possibilities, we found ourselves returning again and again to the work of Kreg Hanning and the The Lifelong Kindergarten group.
If you’re an educator or passionate about education, you’ve probably come across The Lifelong Kindergarten group’s work. It centres on developing new ways to engage children in creative learning experiences and provide them with opportunities to think about and interact with the world around them. Most notably, their development of the Scratch programming community has seen millions of students around the world using Scratch to program their own interactive stories, games, and animations.
Encouraging creativity was front of mind when we were creating Robotical Cog. We’ve seen and heard first-hand from teachers around the world that students learn best when they’re free to play, test ideas, and build things that interest them. We knew that Cog had to allow children to abstract coding into something they could see and touch.
With Marty the Robot, we’ve seen how physical tools can help coding click. But we also saw a gap: educators wanted something even simpler to get started with—something that could take code off the screen and into the real world for all learners, regardless of their coding abilities.
Cog is our answer. It’s a small but powerful input/output device that works with the Robotical app and lets students control physical actions or trigger digital ones—similar to how Scratch links to real-world hardware. Whether they’re pressing a button, lighting up an LED, or triggering a sprite on-screen, students code it all themselves.
The influence of the Lifelong Kindergarten is clear:
- Simple, inviting design
Cog is easy to pick up but has room to grow—just like Scratch. - Bridging physical and digital
Students get to see the immediate results of their code in the real world. - Joyful learning
From the satisfying push of a button or flash of bright lights and colours, Cog encourages playful experimentation.
With Cog, we hope to make it even easier for teachers to bring hands-on coding into the classroom.
Whether you’re introducing beginners to code or teaching systems thinking through inputs and outputs, Cog is here to help create those spark moments—one shake, button press, LED flash, song, and line of code at a time.
We offer free, two-week trials with Marty the Robot. We’ll even cover shipping & collection costs and provide virtual training for teachers.
Try Marty for free today to see how they can impact and inspire your students!
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Are you looking for new STEM resources for your classroom? Robotical are loaning Marty the Robot to schools for no-obligation, 2 week trials.