Any-Cubes - Discover Artificial Intelligence Through Play

The aim of the "Any-Cubes" research and development project is to make it as easy as possible for children to play and experiment with artificial intelligence and networked objects. 
To this end, a functioning prototype was developed with which children can discover artificial intelligence (machine learning) and networked objects step by step and integrate them into their play. The central pedagogical starting point of the project is that children themselves are the actors in their play. Children use toys as play material. A good educational toy therefore enables creativity, imagination and co-operation and can be freely combined with other forms of play and materials. An important research question of Any-Cubes is therefore: How should a computational toy be designed so that it can serve children as a universal tool and encourage them to experiment and create?
In technical terms, Any-Cubes combines two topics of the future. On the one hand, deep learning-based image classification and, on the other, the networking of physical objects (Internet of Things). The set consists of a Sensor Cube and a Maker Cube. The sensor cube can be trained to recognise any possible camera image at the touch of a button. If the Sensor Cube recognises a previously learned object, it sends a signal to the Maker Cube. The Maker-Cube has up to four switches to which small toys (with standard household batteries) can be connected. This allows children to create simple if-then functions and integrate them into their play, regardless of location and in real time. The machine learning functionality is realised directly on a developer board using existing open source libraries. The data is only processed locally and not sent over the internet.
In 2019, Any-Cubes was honoured with an Honorable Mention Demo Award at the Mensch und Computer conference in Hamburg. 
Any-Cubes is a research project of the Department of Education and Social Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam and is funded by the Research and Development Fund of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

Publication
Scheidt, A., & Pulver, T. (2019). Any-Cubes: A Children's Toy for Learning AI. Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2019, 893-895. doi: 10.1145/3340764.3345375