We got our robot project up and running today. It felt like giving birth. With countless barriers to get over, including an explosion, it’s been a long road but we’re there and it’s very, very cool. Everyone who has seen it in action gets totally engrossed and immediately wants one.

We love it and we definitely think its cool as well, it’s not everyday you see a robot write, but in a way, we’re keen for that initial “it’s cool” bit to be over, so we can concentrate on what is important about it. Here are just some of the messages written on the first day:

Amazing, huh? Representation of women, the rise of extremist parties, equality and policing, and pension provision. For all the people out there, who think young people just care about drinking and going out, these responses just show how wrong they are. Of course, young people do what young people do, enjoy life, free of the responsibility that tethers them when they’re get older. But what this shows is that young people aren’t the blank, expressionless, inarticulate kids some would have us believe.

At the heart of what Sidekick Studios and v, The National Young Volunteers Service, who commissioned the project set out to do was to address this stereotype. We wanted to create positive perceptions of young people, and we wanted to reject the myth that young people are apathetic and uninterested in politics. The latest look at the results from our labels and stereotypes theme shows that as many as 53% of 16-25s are interested in politics. Quite a startling high number given the popular perception.

Our view is simple, young people ARE uninterested and unmotivated, but only in politics as it is today. They ARE unlikely to get involved, so lets look at changing the tools we use to get them to participate. They ARE deeply suspicious, so we should make politics more transparent.

Over the coming weeks, for sure, we’re going to be delighted with lots of “OMG, this is sooooo cool” comments, but more than that we hope to create a rich portrait of a generation who are thoughtful, diverse, passionate, bold, brave, anxious, interested and motivated – if only we spoke and listened to them in the right way.