Paul Phelan, is from Public Affairs at Intel is a creator of the Coolest Projects Awards and has a dream to see the hardware section of Coolest projects grow even more popular than it already is!
At Intel we are very keen to support initiatives like CoderDojo that enable coding skills and also give kids and young people the opportunity of being involved in a highly social community and experience a fun, collaborative, high energy learning environment. These are the skills that Intel need today and everyday so supporting CoderDojo and Coolest Projects was always an easy decision. What is especially great about Coolest Projects is that is gives every young person involved in CoderDojo the opportunity to express the skills and knowledge that they have learned in a cool event with their peers.
In particular I think there is a great opportunity to see more hardware output from the coding skills and knowledge that these young people are gaining. It is always great to see something physical, something you can touch and feel that demonstrates your creativity. Recently at the Launch of Coolest projects I witnessed young people coding the movements of a drone and it was fantastic to watch. Not just the sheer ability of these young people but the fun and excitement they were having was great to see.
To support more hardware development Intel is planning to give out 75 free Edison ultra-small computing platforms plus an accessory kit to CoderDojo’s across the country. The idea is to give the kit to a young person who can easily make something and code it to solve some problem and to do something cool. The contents of the kit has not yet being decided but it will conation all the necessary bits and pieces to make a hardware build easy. In addition there is lots of support information available online plus lots of ideas and pre-prepared projects to get started. My hope is that in 2016 we will be amazed with the array of far out “hardware things” that will turn up at Coolest projects.
My advice to these young coders is to visit the Intel stand at Coolest Projects in June to register your interest in receiving one of the Edison Kits. Come on, you didn’t think we would just leave one out for everyone in the audience. You will have to convince me why I should give you a kit and tell me what you plan to do with it. See you on June 13th!
Paul.