AI for kids: a robot that recognises faces
Zeta42 · 1 November 2026
A RobolaB project where a MIEO robot learns two friends' faces and greets each by name. It takes about 45 minutes and runs on your own computer.
AI for kids does not have to mean watching a screen. This project shows a child how a computer tells one face from another, using a RobolaB MIEO robot that learns two friends by name and greets each one when they sit in front of the webcam. The project is rated Advanced and takes about 45 minutes, and the learning and matching happen on your computer with no internet.
What the robot does
Finding a face in a picture is one job. Knowing whose face it is, is a second one. In this project the child teaches MIEO two friends. Each friend looks at the webcam while the child presses their number key a few times, so the Face Sense extension can learn what that face looks like from slightly different angles.
After that, MIEO greets each friend by name with a smile and a happy sound. Anyone it has not learned gets a puzzled hello for strangers and a thinking face.
Why this works as an AI for kids project
Most children use AI as something that answers them. Here they are the ones teaching it, and they can see what happens when the teaching is good or poor. The page lists four ideas the project covers:
- the difference between finding a face and recognising whose face it is;
- teaching a computer with examples, and why more examples help;
- using the name the robot recognises inside a greeting, with a join block;
- why recognition is never completely certain, and how to handle faces it does not know.
The last point is the one adults tend to overlook. A child who sees MIEO call a friend a stranger learns that AI makes mistakes, and that the fix is better examples.
What you need
You need a MIEO board and battery, the 3D-printed mountings, screws and a screwdriver, and a webcam. Most laptops have one built in. You also need two friends willing to be learned, a USB cable or Bluetooth on your computer, and the free Robolab block coding app, which runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
An adult should help with the small screws. Only teach MIEO a face with that person's permission, and sit in good, even light.
How the project goes together
The build is short. Fit the battery, switch MIEO on, connect it to the computer by USB or Bluetooth and stand it beside the screen.
The coding takes most of the 45 minutes. In Robolab, the child chooses Mieo, connects, and sets the switch at the top right to Arena, which means the program runs on the computer and talks to MIEO live. They add the Face Sense extension and make two variables, who and last. Then the scripts go in one at a time:
- A teaching script for each friend: when a number key is pressed, add that class with the friend's name from the camera, and have the robot say it will remember them.
- A reset script on the r key, so the robot can forget everyone and start again.
- A main script that turns on the video, shows the face bounding box and then loops forever, doing face matching from the camera.
- A check inside the loop: if a face is found, set who to the class of the detected face. If it is a new name, the robot greets the friend with a smile and a sound, or says hello to a stranger.
The page also offers a starter project to download and open from the File menu in Robolab, if you would rather begin from a finished program and study how it works.
Teaching it: how to get a good result
Click the green flag, then press a friend's number key three or four times while they look at the camera, turning their head a little each time. Do the same for the second friend on the other key. When the first friend sits down again, the Mieo sprite says hello to them by name, MIEO smiles and the happy sound plays.
The slight head turns are the lesson in miniature. One photo gives the computer one view of a face. Several views give it something to compare against.
If it does not work
The page lists three common problems, and each one teaches something:
- If MIEO calls a friend a stranger, teach that face again in the same light and press the key a few more times as they turn their head slightly.
- If it mixes up two friends, give each one more examples and make sure only one face is in the picture while you teach.
- If it forgets everyone after Robolab is closed, that is expected. Learned faces are not saved with the project, so teach them again each time you open it.
Make it your own
There are three levels of extension. The easy one is to swap in your own friends' names and give each a different sound. The medium one is to teach a third friend on the 3 key. The hard one is to keep a variable for each friend, count their visits today and say the count in the greeting.
Where to go next
If the child enjoys this one, the same page points to three more AI projects: a robot that reads a printed word and obeys it, one that describes what the camera sees on its display, and one that drives to a chosen object or away from it. The six AI blocks in the free app (Face, Body, Object, Vision, Speech and Scan Sense) run on the computer rather than in the cloud, so the same privacy point holds for all of them.
You can see the whole kit range on our RobolaB page, and schools that want to run projects like this in class can read about our STEM robotics training.
Common questions
- Does the camera send my child's face anywhere?
- No. The camera and microphone stay on your computer, and nothing MIEO sees or hears is sent anywhere. The learning and matching also run on the computer with no internet.
- Will MIEO remember the faces next time?
- No. Learned faces are not saved with the project, so you teach them again each time you open Robolab. The r key resets the classes if you want to start over during a session.
- What age is the face recognition project for?
- The project page gives no age range for this project and rates it Advanced. MIEO kits are made for children aged 8 and up, and an adult should help with the small screws.
Source: robolablearn.com