Robotics
This list contains resources about robotics.
Humans need not apply
This thought provoking video makes a great introduction to the robotics and the threat automation poses to mass unemployment. At 15 minutes, this is a long video and could be used as a flipped learning resource. In the classroom, the first five minutes is enough to summarise the issues.
Lego Mindstorms
This is a link to Lego’s curriculum content for their EV3 Mindstorm RobotsDesigned as toys, they are incredibly robust and easy to be build, leveraging the Lego building skills of students. The Mindstorm software is based on LabView, which is used in industry for automation. However, this graphical ‘Dataflow’ approach to programming may jar with students’ experience of procedural languages like Scratch. There is over 30 hours of classroom instruction and problem-solving activities. Each of the activities begins with a design brief and ends with a final project that can be presented and shared.
Mind Cuber is an additional EV3 resource, it contains all the necessary resources to build a robot, capable of solving the Rubik’s Cube. Suitable for students aged 11- 14, this stand-alone project could be used as differentiation for the ‘most able’ or as a code club activity.
Robotics with Enchanting and LEGO® NXT
Enchanting is free to use software that enables students to program LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots. Unlike Lego’s proprietary software, Enchanting allows the students to program in a Scratch like environment. The first resource is a teacher guide to NXT and the Enchanting IDE. It provides a detailed introduction to the software, including lesson ideas on how to introduce robotics into the classroom.
The second resource, the ‘Enchanting’ cards, are a set of student worksheets, each containing a different programming challenge. Suitable for students aged 11- 14 years, each card has the necessary building instructions and Enchanting code to solve a new programming problem. The cards utilise the range of sensors and actuators available for the NXT.
BBC micro:bit Robot Buggy
This is a resource aimed at students aged 11-14. It is one of a series that support the use of the BBC micro:bit in the classroom. The pack contains several lesson plans, presentations and student handouts. The first ‘unplugged’ lesson introduces students to how programmable systems work, the second they are walked through how to create a robot buggy. In the extension activity students apply their experience, designing a new robot to meet a need.
Introduction to Vectors
This course is an introduction to the vector mathematics. It makes the the leap from theory to practice and demonstrates how vectors can be used to simulate motion in computer programs. Suitable for students aged 16 to 18 years, this resource includes an embedded IDE that allows participants to program vectors in JavaScript.
MicroBit & BitBot robotics lessons
A 4-week lesson programme introducing robotics to KS3 using a Micro:Bit and a BitBot. The Bit:Bot Robot is easy to assemble and comes equipped with programmable neopixels, light and line following sensors. This series of lessons introduce embedded programming, control structures, switching on the neopixels, turning motors, using the sensors and remote control.
Tim Gamble is the author of this resource.
Build a robot buggy
In this project students learn to build a robot buggy using a Raspberry Pi. It contains detailed tutorials that cover:
- How to setup a motor controller board with two motors
- How to control motors using Python
- How to build a robot chassis
These activities are aimed at students aged 14-18. The programming examples are in Python, a text based language and require experience to be successful.
Self drive challenge
This interactive online self-driving challenge from Siemens can supplement robotics education in computing. It enables pupils to programme a car to drive around a circuit without a driver, the circuits getting more complex as the challenge progresses.
