San Diego City Wire

Roger Billings announced on Jan. 6 that Acellus Academy is a new online robotics course for students.

"Robots are becoming an extremely important part of our lives and they're going to be more and more important as we go forward," Billings said on "Science Live!" 

He showed clips of several robots dancing, including one animal robot which he noted required a significant amount of work by engineers. Billings added that "robots are coming to many, many places."

"We have a new course you can enroll in," said Billings. "It won't cost any extra money to enroll."

In the new course, "you will learn how to program the robot to dance," he said. He explained students will actually see the robot dance to selected music on their computer screens.

Billings displayed a small robot, created by his co-host, dancing to show students an example of robotics in action.

If students like this initial course, he said they can enroll in an advanced class to further their interest. 

The course, Billings said, has "10,000 steps you can do if you get a robot."

"This could be a real engineering, creative, design, coding experience that could help people understand robots in an amazing way," Billings said. "A lot of students are going to start with this course – this is kind of a quick start – you can get in and make something happen real quick."

According to Billings, some students will enjoy the initial course so much, they may take the full course.

"I believe everybody is going to want to learn to use robots," he said. "It's an exciting new part of Acellus." 

A description of the course on Acellus' website indicated that students will program the Acellus robot using simple coding blocks, allowing students to "explore the world of coding."

"This mini course is an ideal first step to the STEM-10 program, which is built on the realization that coding is a fundamental ability needed by all students. The program begins at the elementary level, usually in the third grade, expanding each year in sophistication and complexity. In the last years, the program spreads out to three paths, each preparing students for a cutting edge career," the course description states.