Finja Finds it Out Again! Artificial Intelligence in Children’s Book

In the second part of the children’s book series Finja Finds it Out! It is all about artificial intelligence. To mark its 50th birthday, the University of Bremen is giving away 50 class sets of the book titled The Mysterious Robot to Bremen school pupils in grades 3 to 6.

As always, Finja and Malik are out together when Luna crosses their path and wants to start a conversation. The amazing thing about it all? Luna has escaped from her place of work – and is a robot! The children’s curiosity is piqued and they delve into the exciting world of technology and computer science: What is artificial intelligence? How does a robot learn? And why can Luna answer so many difficult questions but not make coffee?

The special thing about the story told in the newly published book Finja Finds it Out! The Mysterious Robot: All the scientists that are characters in the book are real. Professor Rolf Drechsler, Professor Michael Beetz, and early-career researcher Gaya Kazhoyan carry out research on artificial intelligence and robotics in the book and in real life at the University of Bremen. In the first book Finja Finds it Out – The Mysterious Powder, which was published in 2019, everything focused on the complex field of material sciences.

Free Class Sets

The book’s author, Isabell Harder, works at the university as a transfer coordinator for university and schools and used the lockdown last year to carry out research and write: “If we do not have any events for school pupils, then we can at least make sure they have something exciting to read.”

Harder then also had the idea to provide as many school classes as possible with free books. With the financial support of the Computer Architecture Working Group (AGRA), the Institute Artificial Intelligence (IAI), the collaborative research center EASE, and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), this was made possible. 50 class sets can now be ordered by teachers via the website as long as stocks last.

Much like the first book Finja Finds it Out – The Mysterious Powder, the second book Finja Finds it Out! The Mysterious Robot is also being published by Bremen’s Schünemann Verlag publishing house.