X Makers, here is the new program for children of John … – The Daily

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When you invite to a trip-print for the presentation of a new TV show, you never know whether to accept it or not. Travel and accommodation paid for by those who airs the program, all perfectly organized, a couple of days frankly pleasant in the company of colleagues and a commitment required certainly not exaggerated. And then you also have to write that program, with all the scruples of the case. That’s what happened with DeA Kids , the satellite channel for children of De Agostini who organized a trip to Barcelona to present X Makers, ambitious new program hosted by John Muciaccia (yes, that’s Art Attack ), broadcast from Friday, April 3 to 20, once a week on channel 601 of the Sky bouquet. Fortunately, however, this time we passed the usual reluctance and we queued to the company. Fortunately, because X Makers is a nice program. And since children’s programs are often an unbroken series of verses and songs, as if the kids were all idiots , this format our eyes seemed almost revolutionary.

is, in practice, the first television format in Europe that brings children to the digital fabrication , the robotic and the world of 3D printers . With a language course suited to smaller, Muciaccia guide young viewers to discover the latest in that within a few years will be the stars of a new technological revolution. At his side, between fiction and popular science, the physical Maximum Temporelli (responsible for one of FabLab Milan) and young Francesco Marchioro and Julia Palaferri . Rounding out the team, then, there is the android iCub , small humanoid robot created by the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, and this time it provides its bolts on TV . In the first episode, for example, X-makers take a normal scooter and transform it into something much more attractive and up to date. With a 3D printer will be made of the aesthetic embellishments that will make it look like a Tyrannosaurus , while a very small drill (with battery attached) it will move effortlessly. Last but not least, a small computer device will allow the child to turn to “call” the scooter with a whistle, a little ‘how did Zorro with his horse.

3D Printers are perhaps the most interesting feature of this program. And just in the two days in Barcelona, ​​we had the opportunity to visit the Fab Lab of the Catalan city, first in Europe and then followed by many others in our country. In a huge space that looks a lot like an old workshop a bit ‘messy, young and brilliant “makers” have told a handful of reporters Italian incredulous how the gimmick, printing some small items to enhance the effect amazement. From what these visionaries have told us, it really seems that we must prepare to ‘ yet another technological revolution , that will forever change our habits. All this in a much shorter time than we can imagine.

It is also why X Makers is a useful program: preparing our children to the inevitable, allowing them to not get caught off guard when everything change (because seriously and will change for the better). The regret is that a format like that should not be aired on Rai, who still propina children low-quality products and who look to the past, not this one of the newest generations. Who Sky, do not miss the chance to watch the program with their children (is magnetic for adults too, trust me). Who does not have a subscription to satellite TV, do not despair: you tell about what the Fab Lab closer and spend an afternoon exploring the 3D printing and a thousand other newfangled technology that fun (and will educate) adults and children.

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