At Polar 2018 Makeblock Presents its Science Outreach & STEAM Education Project in Antarctica

DAVOS, Switzerland, June 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Makeblock, the global leading STEAM education solutions provider, attends the Polar 2018 as the only selected robotic brand for the Antarctica Education & Research Program (AERP). mBot Rangers, one of the programmable STEAM education robots from Makeblock, worked with Arduino, the open source platform, to accomplish data collection, environment monitoring and field test in Antarctica. Polar 2018 is an international scientific conference that brings together the entire polar community (Arctic and Antarctic) and is also the meeting forum of COMNAP (Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs).

"Antarctica, in one way or another, will affect us all, sooner or later. AERP is a STEAM education project in Antarctica based on robotics and Virtual Reality (VR), we want to engage educators and students in other subjects into this program and increase the global awareness to the challenges of sustainable development." Professor Nuno Sidonio Andrade Pereira, the initiator of AERP, said. "The result proved that mBot Ranger is an appropriate hardware platform to make the STEAM activities not only in the classroom but also to take those activities to Antarctica."

In February 2018, 10 Makeblock mBot Rangers programmed by students of different ages from Portuguese and Bulgarian passed the behavior test and completed data collection task at the Bulgarian Antarctic research station. "This has never been done before and in our case, the success is a consequence of the success of the robots!" Professor Nuno Pereira said.

AERP was implemented in the Bulgarian Antarctic Base, St. Kliment Ohridski with the cooperation of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute and the Polytechnic Institute of Beja. With the aim of increasing public awareness on Antarctica related issues, and the importance of research, and monitoring in this region of the Planet, this program was supported by the Camoes - Institute of Cooperation and Language of Sofia and received attention from the British Council in Bulgaria.

About Makeblock

Makeblock Co., Ltd, founded in 2013, is a leading STEAM education solution provider. Targeting the STEAM education and entertainment markets for schools, educational institutions, and families, Makeblock aims to achieve deep integration of technology and education.

About Polar 2018

Polar 2018 is a joint event from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research SCAR and the International Arctic Science Committee IASC and takes place in Davos, Switzerland from June 15 ? 26, 2018.

SOURCE Makeblock