Melbourne City FC has joined forces with leading global AI and humanoid robotic company, UBTECH, to help teach 10-12-year-old Melbournians computer coding skills using a unique mix of programable robots and their love of football.
Part of Melbourne City’s City in the Community charity arm, the initiative with UBTECH will introduce basic coding skills by taking football and robots into a range of schools Melbourne’s north, engaging more than 1300 students over the next 12 months and totalling more than 4,000 during the three-year project.
City players Jamie Maclaren and Luke Brattan today launched the project at Fitzroy Primary School, helping children programme the robots before giving them some tips out on the football field.
“City in the Community does amazing work, but this partnership with UBTECH has to be the most creative yet. The kids are gaining long-term skills like coding, whilst playing football and with robots. It’s a dream for most children!” said City midfielder, Luke Brattan.
“By the end of the year, we’ll have introduced the program into 20 primary schools in Melbourne, alongside a range of other programs we run in Melbourne using football to help bring people from different communities together.”
The initiative will be delivered by teachers with support from Melbourne City FC’s Young Leaders – a group of young people trained to deliver community coaching programmes – and culminates with young fans demonstrating their robot coding skills on the AAMI Park pitch at a City home match.
City’s newest robot experts, Jamie Maclaren and Luke Brattan, will next be in action on Saturday 9 Feb when City takes on Adelaide at AAMI Park.
Melbourne City FC and UBTECH’s Football and Robots programme, in numbers:
- Three-year program
- 1,300 children per year, 4,000 total
- Each programme runs for six weeks and include 45 mins or football and 45 min of coding
- Children engaged 10-12 years old (Year 5 and 6)
