How IBM and MDEC got Malaysian students to build cardboard robots

In a bid to spur the transformative spirit in young Malaysians further, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and IBM Malaysia recently co-hosted the IBM Watson Maker Workshop for SMK Kompleks KLIA. This workshop was designed to introduce students to beginner’s maker and coding skills, and artificial intelligence in a fun way.

The IBM Watson Maker Workshop is one of several IBM’s corporate social responsibility efforts in support of #mydigitalmaker movement geared at transforming Malaysian youth from digital users to producers in the digital economy. 

Volunteers from IBM Malaysia guided 30 students in building and assembling ‘TJBots’ from laser-printed cardboards and Raspberry Pi 3 boards before connecting them to Watson Speech to Text application programming interface (API) service available on IBM Bluemix. The IBM TJBot is an open-source project and a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kit that allows anyone to build their programmable cardboard robots powered by Watson.

Speaking at the event David Raper, Lead of Corporate Citizenship, IBM Asia Pacific and Greater China Group said: “It is gratifying to see students team build their own robots while learning and exploring technology.  Technology is all about keeping experiments going and coming up with something truly life-changing for the world and the community. By exposing students to coding, robotics and artificial intelligence, we are preparing them for the future where digital technology is disrupting businesses. It was great to see the commitment from MDEC towards the #mydigitalmaker initiative to skill up youth in the ecosystem.”

Sumitra Nair, Vice President, Talent & Digital Entrepreneurship Division at MDEC added:

“Technology, as we know it today, is a part of everyone’s life, and it is time we educate students, teachers as well as parents in unfolding its depths and potential. The #mydigitalmaker team are committed to coaching the younger generation and teachers with the correct education plans and effective workshops so that they can embrace technology as a skillset and be digital-ready in this digital economic future. This will help empower our younger generation to be trained problem solvers, and their ideas soon will benefit the society and fuel the nation’s digital economy. The MDEC and IBM Watson Maker Workshop is definitely a good start, and we are hoping to organise similar workshops this year for students from other schools to keep the momentum going, especially with the much-anticipated #mydigitalmaker Fair 2017 inching closer.”

BEST OF GLOBAL DIGITAL MARKETING Conference 2017 (http://best-marketing.eu/events/my/)

For the seventh year running, we are bringing back the famous Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference to KL with a special focus on Content Marketing this year. Unique case-study based learning, as our team monitors over 200 digital marketing award shows across the globe and interviews the winners. Based on this extensive work, we produce in-depth case studies.

Speakers with digital domain expertise:
• Hando Sinisalu, CEO of Best Marketing International
• Kyoko Yonezawa, Creative Technologist and member of Dentsu Lab Tokyo
• Scott Gray, Experience Director, Mirum South Africa

Global Case Studies include:
BANKING & INSURANCE: Compare The Market, Advocards, Allianz, Ally Bank, Barclays….
TECHNOLOGY & STARTUPS: Hubspot, Pipedrive, MoveHub….
AUTOMOTIVE: Volkswagen, Volvo, Nissan, etc FMCG: Ariel, Unilever, Snickers…
RETAIL: McDonald’s, Harvey Nichols, Zalando….
TRAVEL & TOURISM: Qatar Airways, Transavia, Finland Tourism, Sweden Tourism, KLM…

Each best practice case study is presented based on…
Business problem: What is the market situation? Who are the competitors? What is the target audience? What are the main business/marketing challenges? What are the goals?
Solutions: What are the consumer insights? What was the creative strategy? What was the media strategy? What were the results of the campaign?
Lessons: What other marketers from other countries/other business sectors could learn from this case study? What are the main mistakes to avoid?

The Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference has won popularity in more than 30 cities around the world from Singapore, Moscow, Jakarta, Istanbul to Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Prague, Shanghai, Seoul, etc.

Date: 14 August, 2017 (Thursday)

Venue: Sime Darby Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Time: 8.30am – 5.00pm

Book your seats early! Call Ruby on 03-77262588 or [email protected]