Robotics Resources

Here are resources for people looking to teach robotics, especially those who came to my presentation at the SWATCA teacher’s convention on Hands On Robotics.

Here is a PDF version of my slides; note that is lacks all audio and video clips.

Next Actions

Scratch

Try out Scratch. (Happy Scratch Day in Canada today).

Also take a look at ScratchEd, a site for people teaching children to use Scratch.

If you’d like to try something more advanced, look at Build Your Own Blocks. (You might also like these interactive books on BYOB-based programming languages).

Mailing List

Sign up for the Robotics In Education mailing list.

SABRE Games

Come to the 2013 SABRE Games, next Thursday (Feb 28, 2013). (Come to watch; or bring some young roboticists to participate!)

Make Magic

If you have a LEGO Mindstorms NXT set, try out Enchanting.

Check It Out

There are some great books in the Jim and Mary Kearl Library of Cardston that you can sign out easily from your local Chinook Arch library (and ought to be able to get via inter-library loan from any public library in Alberta, or perhaps Canada).

[There are a great many other excellent books on robotics; check out an online bookstore near you.]

Listen

Listen to some great podcasts.

• Robotics For Teacher’s Podcast
• Interview with Chris Rogers of Tufts

Watch

Here are some interesting videos.

• Mitch Resnick: Reading, Writing, and Programming
• Chris Rogers: Teaching STEM with a Camera and a Brick or Two
• Frank Noschese: Learning Science by Doing Science
• Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers
• Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover

Keep In Touch

Here are my contact details.

You can also follow me on Twitter — @ClintonWB.

I also run a mailing list called SABRE Announcements. You can sign up on the left.

Additional Resources

Websites

• LUMACS – outreach program at the U of L that does robotics.

• The NXT Step (This is the premier blog on the NXT).

• NXTPrograms has fabulous building instructions for all three NXT kits.

• Stem Robotics 101 “is both a turn-key curriculum for novice Robotics teachers and a collaboration tool for veteran Robotics teachers.”

• LEGO Engineering has a number of robotics-related activities, and it run by Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach.

• Kids Engineer! has some great curricular resources, interesting blog articles, and aims “[t]o understand and promote engineering education in elementary schools.”

• MindBoards is a forum where you can ask your questions. (Enchanting also has a forum).

• The Make magazine blog is very interesting, and the Brother’s Brick is lots of fun.

• Here is LEGO’s official page for LEGO Mindstorms.

• For more advanced robotics, take a look at BotBench and RJMcNamara .

Competitions and Events

• I run the SABRE games locally.

• With other groups, we’ve run Robofest locally for several years.

• Calgary hosts the Western Canadian Robotics Games every May, and they meet every Saturday at the Aerospace Museum.

• Do be sure to check out the Mini Maker Faire in Calgary next year.

• FIRST Alberta run events like the FIRST LEGO League (FLL), Jr. FLL, FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition — with an event for every age range.

• NAIT is running a VEX competition.

• The Western Canada RoboCup Jr. event runs in Kelowna every year.

(There are lots and lots of other events, and it is easy to host your own).

Presentation

• Robotics Through Inquiry (with materials from AISI Learning Leaders in Calgary)

Radical Idea

• Designing 20% time in education

Papers

• Scratch and 21st Century Skills

• Learning By Designing

• All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I Learned (By Studying How Children Learn) in Kindergarten

• New Pathways Into Robotics

• Also see the LifeLong Kindergarten Group ‘s homepage.

• Students do not overcome conceptual difficulties after solving 1000 traditional problems

• Focus On Inquiry (by Alberta Education)

PD Courses

• Logo Summer Institute 2013 in New York, July 8-12.

• 2Learn.ca has also offered courses on robotics.

Where To Buy

• Educational kits can be ordered through Spectrum Educational Supplies. (You might also check out LEGO Education, but they do not sell outside of the USA).

• Retail kits can be purchased from many places, such as RobotShop.ca, Amazon, Target, Toys R Us, and from LEGO directly.

• Parts are best purchased at BrickLink or eBay.

If you are looking for interesting sensors, check out

• Mindsensors
• HiTechnic
• Dexter Industries

Other Interesting Technologies

Just a short list — as there are so many!

• Arduino – an easily programmable microcontroller
• Raspberry Pi – a $35 computer designed for kids to explore programming.
• VEX – a more advanced robotics kit.
• fischertechnik – an alternative robotics system.

2013 SABRE Games

The 2013 SABRE games will take place on the night of Thursday, February 28, in Magrath, at the elementary school, from 5 to 7 pm.

We will run Tug of War, Sumo, and a Parade, in that order.

Events

Tug Of War

Two robots are tied together with a string and each tries to pull its opponent over the center line. We will be using these rules [pdf] and here is a great video tutorial. Note: Replaced broken link.

Sumo

Two robots are placed in a sumo ring. Each tries to find and push its opponent out without going out of the ring itself. Please read the full rules .

Parade

Robots are dressed up and strut their stuff, following a line and not crashing into the robot in front. We will use the RoboParade 2012 rules. Videos and rules are here.

Enchanting 0.2 is out!

I’m pleased to announce that Enchanting v0.2.1 is out!

Why not start out the new year by trying out a new way to program your LEGO Mindstorms NXT robot?

Here’s a video showing what it does.
[If you’d rather, watch this shorter trailer video instead.]

Enchanting is free (as in lunch, and in speech) and available for Windows XP+ and Mac OS X 10.4+. (We would love help getting the experimental Linux and Raspberry Pi versions ready for use.)

It combines the simplicity and friendliness of programming in Scratch, with the advanced capabilities of leJOS and BYOB/Snap.

Please see the Enchanting website for information on getting started with Enchanting — we now have Enchanting Cards [3.4 MB PDF] and there is an interactive eBook on programming in Enchanting 0.0.9.1 .

Here are the scripts demonstrated in the video:
Introducing Enchanting - Sample Programs.zip [395KB]
and here are screenshots of those scripts:

Drive Around A Square

Follow That Line (With Eyes)

The Play:

The Big Bad Wolf	The Little Pig

Drive Around An Arbitrary Polygon

The Sumo Bots:

The two robots ran almost identical code, shown in Enchanting card #12 , except that I added code to turn on the lights to show what behaviour they were executing (which I forgot to save!), and I made one wander in the opposite direction so that the fight wouldn’t take all day!