Discussing the presence of AI in the home, it seems that until recently, I have been one of the oddest people in the world, choosing not have enabled a Smart Assistant at home. Whether you are Apple, Amazon or Google will depend on which voice you get, those of Siri, Alexa or – yes Google. Across most households I have visited over a year or two now, the background digital assistant has been there quietly humming in the background, providing music, weather forecasts, news and indeed genuine assistance to the household, recipe advice and all sorts.

Since Merlyn Mind joined Claires Court 3 years ago as one of only 50 institutions in the world to trial AI in the classroom, we’ve been able to expand its involvement in school life with every junior classroom now equipped to provide that support for teachers. 3 boys from Year 9 (Computer Science {Cs}group who brought the school drone to our firework show) visited last term Year 6 to hear their views on the benefits and otherwise of Merlyn as currently configured for use. It’s amazing how astute our children are, how quickly they can summarise What Works Well, and Even Better If, and so fairly quickly, the #CCScDrone squad were able to report back to Merlyn as consumers.

Friday 26 January is a big day for the #CCScDroneSquad, as they are due to present to a range of industry specialists their work with Drones. They are travelling to BETT24 at the Excel centre in Stratford, London, armed with their presentation seeking sponsor support for 2 more drones, so they can develop their programme for teaching junior children about smart robots, of which of course modern drones are brilliant examples.

Specifically, they are also meeting with the US team from Merlyn, both for feedback but also to receive examples of the next generation of classroom AI, Merlyn Origin. The team are to be based on the Sunborn Hotel, seen above outside Excel, and we will feel a little like entrepreneurs entering the Dragon’s Den! You can see their presentation visible here, and we are really hopeful of learning a lot from our visit to BETT, teaming up with Merlyn and their UK partners, C-Learning, and who knows, coming back with some unexpected booty too.

PART 2 will follow after our return – Saturday 27 January 2024.

#CCCsDroneSquad arrived at BETT24, ready to meet with the team from Meryln and C-Learning. The team had chosen to hear our feedback on the use of Merlyn Mind with our Juniors in one of the board rooms on the luxury yacht hotel, Sunborn. Below shows our team under clear scrutiny, being commended for the exceptional detail that they had taken to summarise the strengths of the classroom tool, plus hear where the weaknesses lay in terms of technology limitations.

The new Merlyn Origin was shown to the team, and they were invited to interact with Marlyn’s AI directly, learning how to ask prompts both to receive answers to questions but also how to cause Merlyn to generate new content from scratch. In so doing, the boys made History, being the first children in the world to so do! Parents may not know this, but within the educational context, how data on children may be stored, recycled and reused is strictly controlled, and although Merlyn Origin was 2 months ago in the USA, its use with children has not yet been authorised. For the boys part, because they had not logged in as users of Merlyn, but being third party interrogators, the way they ask questions and improve their interactions is the major way in which Merlyn will learn how to work more successfully in the school environment. The #CCCs delegates have been charged with prompting Merlyn for the next 6 weeks over the 3 hours a week we have reserved for this research, and they’ll give further feedback through C-Learning on their findings on the new tool. Of course the researchers can’t be paid for their work, but in return for their efforts, Merlyn have agreed to provide a second DJI mini, so the team now have the agonising decision whether to buy an identical 3 mini Pro, or go for the more automated 4 mini, despite its poorer performance in windy conditions.

After 2 hours with the Merlyn team (which included a fabulous buffet lunch), the team then visited the main BETT24 exhibition, and the photos below capture some of their explorations, from tactile sand, , robotics, robot dogs, sharing their work with the team from Google and eSports.

Overall, the experience was remarkable for the #CCCs team, presentations as they had their research outcomes to an entrepreneurial company currently just completing their 1st $million dollar spend on a new innovation tool for the classroom. The school in due course will receive 20 Merlyn Origins, but receiving the first 6, for trialling in the Junior school and making a welcome return to the senior school’s science labs is really thrilling. Our squad has outstanding invitations to visit 4 junior schools to show them how drones can be used in education as well, so winning the second drone and thus getting 50% of the addition resource needed was a major step forward.

And finally, of course, if there is any reader out there willing to complete stage 2 of the #CCCsDroneSquad’s project – we need a further £700, then please do get in touch!!!