Apple Swift Playgrounds can now program your robots and drones
Apple doesn't build robots or drones, but now you can use its software to program them.
On Thursday, Apple announced that, starting June 5, its increasingly popular iPad-based programming app, Swift Playgrounds, can be used to program robots built with LEGO Mindstorms EV3. Version 1.5 of the app will also handle programming tasks for Sphero's SPRK robot ball, Parrot's Mambo, Airborne and Rolling Spider drones, as well as robots from UBTECH, Dash, and Skoog. All devices will connect to the iPad and Swift Playgrounds via a Bluetooth connection.
It's a big win for Apple in education and in the burgeoning home robotics and drone space and, at least for LEGO, a surprising move, since it already provides iPad-based programming software for its EV3 robots.
"We’re pairing the familiar LEGO bricks and our hands-on approach to playful learning found in LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 with Swift Playgrounds' powerful learning platform so now anyone can program their LEGO MINDSTORMS creation with real Swift code,” said Esben Stærk Jørgensen, president of LEGO Education, in a statement.
The benefit of Swift Playground, though, is that it's designed to teach school-age children (and adults) how to code. The free app is simple and fun, but with hidden depths that slowly reveal themselves.
According to Apple, more than 1 million people (children and adults) use Swift to learn the fundamentals of coding. “Now they can instantly see the code they create and directly control their favorite robots, drones and instruments through Swift Playgrounds. It’s an incredibly exciting and powerful way to learn,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, in a statement.
As Apple CEO Tim Cook explained to Mashable last month, Swift Playgrounds is "Simple to learn and easy to understand, but could be used for most complex mobile apps." Apparently, that now includes drones and robots, too.
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Topics Apple Drones Innovations
Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
