Bee-Bot - the story behind the TTS developed programmable robot
Every product has a story - Bee-Bot the award-winning programmable robot can be found in homes and classrooms all around the world. Read on to find out how our much-loved robot came into being and helped to transform the teaching of programming, engaging pupils in a fun and innovative way.
Like all great inventions, the idea for the award-winning Bee-Bot programmable floor robot was born out of a need, when teachers were struggling to deliver programming lessons to young children. It’s simple button functions, smiley face and inexpensive price have made him a hit in schools for over 20 years.
A view from the TTS Product Development team:
One of the product creators, inventors and developers for TTS talks about how Bee-Bot came about:
Bee-Bot was born through the long standing TTS tradition of good solid teacher research. From talking to scores of teaching professionals, Bee-Bot was eventually conceptualised one rainy afternoon in Lewisham, between TTS product creators and local authority ICT advisors in the early 00’s. We knew teachers struggled teaching programming and wanted to find an innovative and engaging device for students and teachers alike. A device that built on the curriculum requirements, but offered a sufficiently open-ended resource that it could be used across all subject areas. And so Bee-Bot was born!
We spent hours pouring over the mechanical function of how to program Bee-Bot and possibly just as long on the face! Numerous product names went into the hat until we ended up with ‘Bee-Bot.’ And then it was simply a question of taking the prototype to enough schools to test and that meant there were a suite of floor mats developed for it to adventure on too. So in a nutshell; Bee-Bot is a grand example of necessity being the mother of invention…we had a curriculum to deliver and most of us were left scratching our heads so we set to task to help, as has been the TTS way ever since!
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A perfect tool for teaching sequencing, estimation, problem-solving, and just having fun!
The 2019 upgraded version of Bee-Bot has the following features:
- Ability to remember up to 200 commands. That’s 160 more commands, compared with the older version.
- Able to interact with other Bee-Bots and Blue-Bots
- Recordable messages feature to confirm demands
Loved by teachers and children across the world, he is rechargeable and a key resource for delivering the new computing curriculum.
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Bee-Bot Accessories
With all of the accessories to go with Bee-Bot and Blue-Bot, including mats, sequence cards, tactile readers, tins with activity ideas, software and APPs, you will have everything that you need for a perfect starting point for teaching control, directional language and programming in the classroom.
The Bee-Bot App
We have been amazed and delighted by the success of the Bee-Bot App. Our team developed the App based on our well-loved, award-winning floor robot. The app makes use of Bee-Bot’s buttons functionality. It enables children to improve their skills in directional language and programming through sequences.
The developers have created the app with different themed Bee-Bot games. There are themes such as Space, Romans and a Winter Wonderland to name a few. Each game has 6 levels that increase in difficulty to encourage progression. The games will appeal to children age 4+. Also available is the Blue-Bot APP!