SHANGHAI, June 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- What should children actually learn in the age of AI? That question has been shaping some of the recent work happening around WhalesBot's AI+Robotics Exploration Centers across China, where schools and local communities are building spaces focused less on passive technology consumption and more on hands-on interaction with robotics, engineering, coding, competitions, drones, and real-world experimentation.
On June 27th, WhalesBot, a leading robotics company based in Shanghai, China that specializes in robotics and AI education, launched its second AI+Robotics Exploration Center in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. This follows a similarly recently launched project in China's Anhui Province that includes a nearly 5,000-square-meter AI+Robotics Exploration Center designed around robotics exhibitions, immersive learning spaces, competition areas, AI and robotics classrooms, and project-based exploration for students from ages 3 to 22.
WhalesBot is also involved in an ongoing collaboration connected to Peking University, where a three-floor AI and technology learning center with more than 1,800 square meters per floor is currently under development. Similar Exploration Center projects and regional collaborations are also being explored in other cities across China.
Students are not just sitting in front of screens. They are testing robots, debugging sensor behavior, flying drones, and building systems that don't work the first time. Such physical interaction matters more than people think.
In the AI industry, terms like "physical AI" or "embodied AI" are now starting to be used to describe intelligence interacting with the real world instead of existing only digitally. In education, a similar shift may already be starting to happen.
As AI can instantly generate answers, images, code, even ideas, the value of learning may gradually move toward things that are harder to automate: reasoning, experimentation, judgment, curiosity, teamwork, adapting to failure, understanding how systems behave in unpredictable environments.
According to WhalesBot, this has gradually evolved into what it calls AI Foundations Learning — combining robotics, coding, engineering, AI concepts, competitions, and project-based learning into a more connected pathway, instead of treating AI as a completely isolated subject.
Moreover, WhaleBot's programs like ENJOY AI, which is the largest robotics competition in the world, follow the same direction. Students solve challenges together, test ideas under pressure, rebuild after failure, and learn through interaction instead of only instruction.
The technology itself will keep changing. Probably faster than schools can fully adapt to. But there is a growing sense among many educators that AI learning cannot stay only on screens. Students still need to build things, test ideas in the real world, and work with uncertainty.
The future of AI education may end up being more physical than people expected.
About WhalesBot
WhalesBot Technology, headquartered in Shanghai, China, was founded in 2018 and specializes in AI and robotics education for ages 3 to 22. It is currently the largest manufacturer of educational robots in the world, with over 1 million units sold to more than 80 countries. WhalesBot also sponsors initiatives like ENJOY AI, which is also the world's largest youth robotics competition.
Contact: William SHI, william.s@whalesbot.com
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Leading Chinese Robotics Company Sets Sights on Off-Screen AI Education
