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Toys

From Clementoni comes Airo, the first robot with artificial intelligence

11 November 2024

Acronimo di Artificial Intelligence Robot, è in grado di imitare e memorizzare i movimenti in tempo reale

3' min read

From Sapientino to Airo, the first toy robot with artificial intelligence. In its 60 years of history, completed in 2023, the company Clementoni of Recanati in the Marche region has made boomers, millenials and generations Z and Alpha play. And today it is launching on the market a robot dedicated to children from 9 years of age that marks an important step in educational robotics.

Airo, an acronym for Artificial Intelligence Robot, - capable of imitating and memorising movements in real time - is the first goal of the AI4Edugaming project, developed in synergy with the University of Macerata, the software house Ubisive Srl and Il faro Società Cooperativa Sociale.

On the ethical aspect of the work of the company created in 1963 by owner Mario Clementoni, emphasises the current managing director, his son Giovanni Clementoni.

"A company that makes toys is not a company like any other. The awareness of making products for children gives responsibility - says Giovanni Clementoni - here we do not have gnomes who make toys, but professionals who move in a working environment in which there is involvement and enthusiasm. With Airo,' the CEO emphasises, 'we wanted to create a product that not only entertains, but teaches, stimulates creativity and encourages the development of logical skills, making the game increasingly a fundamental educational tool, in full continuity with the history of our company. A process that will have future developments'.

Airo can be assembled by the child and is equipped with 6 motors that enable it to move in space and imitate movements and gestures.

Thanks to a Bluetooth connection with a dedicated app and neural networks, young players can teach them new gestures and associate them with voice commands, creating a personalised and evolving gaming experience.

Faithful to the philosophy of their father Mario Clementoni, who invited them to consider play a serious thing and never stop playing, especially when they grow up, the Clementoni siblings, Stefano, Patrizia, Pierpaolo and Giovanni, continued the story that began after the war in a garage in Recanati, where the first board game, 'La Tombola della Canzone', inspired by the Sanremo Festival, was born. In 1967 Sapientino was born, which helps children learn while having fun.

Today, Clementoni - which generates 70 per cent of its turnover in foreign markets - remains rooted in its home territory, with 90 per cent of production being 'home-made'. That the company has come a long way since its start in the Italy of the economic boom is clear from the numbers.

A turnover of 199 million euros (April 2023 - March 2024), with 4% invested in research and development, 28 million toys sold per year, 7 product lines, 1,100 new codes every year, 600 employees, 9 commercial branches in addition to the head office in Italy (France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Turkey and Poland), 1 operative branch in Hong Kong and 83 countries reached through exports. The pool of toy professionals is made up of young people with an average age of around thirty years old, 50% are women and are graduates in the most varied disciplines: educators, psychologists, designers, graphic designers, etc. A task force that follows every stage of development: from concept to industrialisation. In the awareness that a dialogue with the consumer is necessary, Clementoni has never interrupted the dialogue with families and children as with the world of schools, over 100 in Italy and Europe.

This link with the outside world is also enriched by the interaction with start-ups, universities and research centres, in order to capture innovative trends and turn them into drivers of development.

Long gone, yet close, are the days when the business was carried out in the garage on the outskirts of Recanati, by the owner Mario and his wife Matilde Brualdi, with the help of a few collaborators. Today, in the 50,000 square metre factory, they look to the future and to sustainability. Starting with a photovoltaic system that covers 55% of requirements, while the goal of 100% green energy is achieved thanks to plants powered by renewable sources. This without losing sight of the value of the past.

With more modern technology came the 'old' board games, puzzles, tombola. "These are products that have always been loved, but which boomed during the pandemic," recalls Giovanni Clementoni, "a period in which we rediscovered the importance of social closeness. As in the best family tradition.