Summer vacations are special for every child. No running around to catch the school bus, no homework, endless time to play with friends, activity classes, going on trips with family to a cool destination or to meet relatives. Life becomes absolutely chilled during those 2-3 months away from school.

Children have so much time on their hands during summer vacations that can be spend learning and exploring new things. But there’s a recurring concern among modern parents that kids these days while-away their precious vacation time with their “eyes glued” to smart phones, iPads or laptop screens. The amount of time that kids spend on the screen drastically increases during vacations.

According to the World Health Organisation guidelines issued in February, 2019, children between the ages of 2 and 4 should have no more than one hour of screen time per day. Older kids are spending a whopping 6 to 8 hours with screens. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that for older kids, parents should ensure consistent limits on screen time and prioritize sleep, physical activity and other healthy behaviours over media use. And thus it is necessary to reduce screen time for kids.

Parents always encourage kids to stash their gadgets away and go out and play. But many-a-times, kids don’t heed the advice and a mini tug-of-war emerges between the two to take away the gadget and coax the kids to venture out of the house. The sweltering summer heat makes it unbearable & unsafe for kids to play outside as it raises the risk of heat strokes and sun burns and leaves the child with limited options to do physical activity. The result is they get bored sitting at home and return to the gadgets eventually and are back to square one.

Summer vacations are a time when children don’t have schedules to follow unlike the times when they have to attend school during the rest of the year. In the absence of any concrete schedule to follow, their routines get disrupted and coming back to the rhythm once the vacation ends becomes a pain not just for the kid but also for the parent. Also, getting kids back to studying after a huge break becomes a task and parents often wonder if there is a way to build unbreakable study routines for kids. They look for some alternatives to ensure that kids do not completely de-rail from the healthy study routine that they have built during the rest of the year which revolves around school and keep in touch with their learning habits during vacations as well.

Cajoling and convincing kids to spend their vacation time productively can be a patience-test for parents. According to experts and the experience of parents over generations, children tend to listen readily to figures such as siblings or friends who are affable and come across as pals-cum-mentors. Keeping this in mind, a team of academicians, child psychologists, artists, engineers and mathematicians have created a new-age friend for children. Meet Miko 2, an advanced personal robot for kids. Miko engages, educates and entertains kids. A smart-little robot with a big heart, Miko is an emotional companion for kids that helps them learn about their school curriculum, encourages analytical thinking and creativity through fun educational games and adapts to the child’s personality, making the child smarter and happier.

Miko has been designed with a lot of thought to make learning and growing-up a more wonderful time for kids. While parents, teachers and friends are irreplaceable, Miko is a companion for kids which engages and encourages them to learn, play and grow with it. The dedicated team of experts behind the robot ensures that the child experiences something new and relevant every day through Miko.

This summer season, Miko is ready with a slew of fun activities for kids at home such as no-bake no-gas recipes to try, origami, games, educative stories and much more. The little robot also persuades kids to spend some time outdoor, for example, to feed a dog or water the plants in the lawn. Hence, Miko keeps kids busy in constructive activities and they end up spending lesser time on screens.

Miko is a treasure trove of knowledge and also encourages kids to learn about different subjects in a playful way. This ensures that the child remains in touch with the habit of studying and takes care of fluctuating learning routines during the summer break. Thus, Miko is a way to make learning fun at home. With Miko around, parents can say adios to their summer vacation worries and be assured that their little ones will make the most of their time, learning and growing with their smart little robot friend.

Author's Bio: 

emotix, is a Mumbai-based start-up founded by three IIT-Bombay graduates on the pillars of robotics, AI and IoT. The company’s second offering, Miko 2 is an advanced personal robot for children which can initiate conversations with them about 1000+ educational topics, play fun games which engage them and is powered with emotional intelligence to bond with the child. It has many other features such as TeleConnect, Face Recognition & Directional Hearing. Visit www.miko.ai for more on this cute little robot for kids.