Source: Famitsu
In a report on the MSX Festival @ Famitsu.com the MSX BASIC for Robo-education project was announced. Thanks to our anonymous sources we got to know a little more about this project.
In Japanese schools, children aged 14-15 have to learn the basics of programming, writing small programs containing FOR...NEXT and IF...THEN lines. Understandable, most kids think of this as extremely boring. MSX Association came up with the idea that a better visualization of the code might help and started developing a robot that can be controlled using CALL statements (or OUTs) using an MSXPLAYer or a real MSX. Using FOR...NEXT and IF...THEN routines the right way makes the robot respond to its environment. If we're not mistaken, the first prototype is already finished, and testing on some schools in Japan will soon begin.
If the results of these tests are encouraging, it is likely that many schools in Japan will start using the MSX Robot. This means that an entire generation is introduced to the MSX system at a young age.
In the same report, there are some pictures of the festival and one more interesting bit of news: in the nineties, there were plans of creating an MSX3 computer. The truth about that story is likely to be revealed in the second MSX Magazine - Collectors edition.
Relevant link: MSX Festival report on famitsu
Comments (2)
By snout
Ascended (15187)
11-02-2003, 15:19
By Hydragon
Paladin (751)
13-02-2003, 14:55