The Chinese startup invading the world’s classrooms

#News(Startup) [ via IoTForIndiaGroup ]

Jianjun “Jasen” Wang wasn’t exposed to technology as a kid. He was an “ordinary, poor child,” the 33-year-old founder and CEO of Makeblock, says at his company’s Shenzhen office. He’s wearing jeans, glasses, and a company T-shirt that reads, “Instruct your Dreams.” “My parents didn’t have the spare money for me to learn something like [robotics].”

Two decades later, Wang’s robots are making their way into kids’ hands across the world, and have made his startup one of the pioneers in a new trend in educational tech. Launched in 2012, Makeblock produces do-it-yourself robotics kits for kids that combine mechanical, electronic, and software components—think LEGO-like pieces that can be assembled into bots and controlled with a few lines of code.

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