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Robot Challenge Enrichment Day for visiting Year 6 students.

Today we hosted another exciting Robot Challenge Enrichment Day event at our school and it was fully booked yet again.  This time all the visiting Year 6 students were partnered up with one of ours and given brief introductions about how the robots work and then set a challenge to program the EV3's to complete as much of the course as possible in the allowed time.  Winners included Henriette, Grace, Nicole, Agostinho, Lucie, Chrystal, Katya, Amelie, Maria, and Rui -- great job everyone!

FIRST® LEGO® League robotics competition 2015.

Twenty-two Year 6 to 9 girls and boys again participated in the FIRST® LEGO® League robotics competition.  A complete description of the Trash Trek event can be found here.

Serious technical discussions with the competition judges!

Congratulations to all the students on both teams for the fantastic results again this year!

Using the new EV3's.

We rebuilt the two new EV3's that we purchased for the competition in December using the excellent and free guide written by Damien Kee.  On his website you can also find some useful activity books and worksheets for programming the EV3 as well as the older NXT.  

We are also planning to use the excellent and free video tutorials produced by Dale Yocum.  His tutorials will supplement lessons if, for example, students need to catch up due to illness or if they want to get ahead in preparation for next year's FLL competition.  Dale Yocum also has robot building instructions and other resources on his website.

Robot Challenge event for Year 5 students.

Today we hosted the third Robot Challenge event at our school and it was fully booked yet again.  The visiting Year 5 students were given a brief introduction about how the robots work and then set a challenge to program the robots to accurately complete a course in the fastest time possible.

Emotions are running high as sometimes the robots don't do what they're supposed to!

If your students want to participate in one of our free Robot Challenge events, please get in touch.  If you have a large group it may be possible for our team to visit your school. 

FIRST® LEGO® League robotics competition 2014.

This year, sixteen Year 6 to 9 students organised into two teams again participated in the FIRST® LEGO® League robotics competition.  A complete description of the event can be found here.

Conducting intensive preparations in the staging area!

Adapting to high pressure situations in the competition area!

Congratulations to all the students on both teams for the fantastic result this year!

Project 3 (Year 8) Search and rescue.

In this project I introduce the concept of sensors and explain how they can be combined with actuators to build autonomous systems.  The objective of the project is to program the robot to navigate around a room by itself, avoiding obstacles, until it finds a "victim".  The idea is based on an emergency situation, such as the aftermath of an earthquake, where it might be unsafe for people to search the building themselves.  Below is a picture of the room in question, which I show the students from the start:

I also show the class the four modified robots for this project.  The ultrasonic sensor (top) and light sensor (front) are now fitted and connected to ports 1 and 4 respectively as shown below:

The next step is to demonstrate the use of these sensors.  In the first example I review iteration, or how to create a loop, to flash the lamp.  In the second I show how use selection to detect an obstacle with the ultrasonic sensor and in the third how to use selection to sense a change in the amount of reflected light to the light sensor.

If students have difficulty starting this project, ask them to program the robot to do the following tasks in this order:

1) Move straight forward until it is 50cm from an obstacle, then turn 90 degrees and stop.

2) Navigate around the room while avoiding obstacles using its ultrasonic sensors.

3) Move straight forward until its light sensor detects >50% reflected light, then stop.

4) Navigate around the room while avoiding obstacles and flashing its lamp.  When arriving at the "victim", make a sound and stop.

FIRST® LEGO® League robotics competition 2013.

Today our team of ten Year 6, Year 7 and Year 8 students participated in the FIRST® LEGO® League robotics competition. The theme of this year's challenge was "Natures Fury", a reference to natural disasters and how robots can help in these situations. A complete description of the event, rules and the 19 missions can be found on their website. The fully set competition mat can be seen below:

And here is our team, celebrating our successful day!

This is a well organised annual event for under-16s held in many locations around the world.  Besides being an exciting day out, it is a fantastic opportunity to develop skills in programming, robotics, problem solving, teamwork and much else.  Recommended.

For sixth-form and college students (ages 16-18) Student Robotics, run by the University of Southampton and Bristol University, holds an annual robotics competition as well.

Project 2 (Year 7) Navigating around a track.

Initially in this project, Year 7 students program the robot to safely navigate from the start to the finish positions which are marked on a track, shown below.  A barrier is set up to force the robots to make turns along the way.  To be successful, students need to measure distances and turns accurately and then set the parameters accordingly on the robot's actuators.  I haven't introduced sensors yet, we'll get to that in Year 8.

As you can see, this track is cheap and easy to make.  It fits into the corner of a room.  I put a metre stick in the picture above for scale and then demonstrated the following two simple programming examples to get students started:

Once students achieved this I explained the concept of parallel processing and added complexity to the track navigation project.  Here are my three tasks in order.

1) Navigate the track from the start to the finish positions.

2) Do task 1, and then navigate back to the start again.

3) Do task 2, but also flash the lamp in one direction and make sounds in the other.

Below is my simple demonstration of parallel processing which I used in my explanation to the students:

Note: I also showed my stronger students the loop block and challenged them to try iteration with the lamp and sounds.  

Project 1 (Year 6) Creating a startup sequence.

In this project Year 6 students program the robot to perform a combination of actions as a creative startup sequence.  I first introduced this by discussing other startup sequences we are already familiar with such as the one on an iPhone or iPad.  This startup sequence will warn others that the robot is about to do something.

I demonstrated the use of the LEGO Mindstorms NXT software and how to connect the USB cable from the computer to the robot itself.  We also discussed the importance of naming and saving files correctly.  Here is the demonstration program I made:

A worthwhile extension activity for this project is to create a flow chart in Word which describes the startup sequence visually.  Here is the corresponding flow chart for my program:

Note: Normally I would teach the designing and flow chart creation before we started programming but for this first project I found it worked better this way: it is easier for the students to understand the flow chart's meaning after they have had some experience with the robot.

Students name the robots.

Following our successful trial of the NXT we bought and assembled three more to use with a class of 16 Year 6 students.  I found the ratio of four students to one robot works quite well in the classroom.  Next I wanted to individualise the robots somehow so I held a naming competition in which students submitted suggestions anonymously and then voted as a class.  Each robot has a different coloured lamp and matching scarf tied around its “neck” which influenced the vote.  This makes identifying them much easier (in case of breakage, low battery, etc.) and adds a sense ownership for the students.  In the end we settled on the following identifying features:

1) Rusty – red lamp, red scarf
2) Cabbage – green lamp, green scarf
3) Vector – yellow lamp, purple scarf

4) Sparkle – white lamp, white scarf

Note: You can set the name to display on the robot’s screen using the software application!

Testing the robot in school.

This is my first build.  It is basically the stock one, as described in the included instruction manual, but with the following important modifications.

1) Removed the touch sensor on the back

2) Removed the arm attachment on the front

3) Added the lamp (with a coloured brick) on the front

Removing the touch sensor and the arm attachment make the robot much more durable in the classroom.  Adding the lamp allows for more instant visual feedback to the students. 

Placing our first order.

We ordered a robot and the software in order to test it in our computer suites and with our students.  Note that this is not the site licence, we will order that later after we are satisfied that this is suitable for our Year 6, Year 7 and Year 8 students.  Also, there are updates for both the application software and the robot firmware available on their website.

Your order is now being processed and will be sent to you as soon as possible.

Product	Item Price	Qty	Amount
LEGO MINDSTORMS Education Base Set	£209.99	1	£209.99
Goods Amount		£209.99
Shipping		£0.00
Tax		£42.00
Total Payable		£251.99

 Thank you for placing your order on the LEGO Education Website.

The LEGO Education Team
sales@legoeducation.eu

Product	Item Price	Qty	Amount
LEGO MINDSTORMS Education NXT Software v.2.0	£49.99	1	£49.99
Goods Amount		£49.99
Shipping		£4.95
Tax		£10.99
Total Payable		£65.93

 Thank you for placing your order on the LEGO Education Website.

The LEGO Education Team
sales@legoeducation.eu

School robotics research.

In order to teach robotics and get robots into the hands of our students we investigated Arduino, Engduino, Raspberry Pi, PIC, LEGO Mindstorms and many others, all great tech with their own merits.  Understanding what they can and can’t do (and how much they cost) took considerable research!  We also consulted people in industry and academia, including professors at UCL's Department of Computer Science.  Ultimately though, our decision was driven by a simple question; which of these technologies engages students the most while providing the best opportunities for learning?  Based on our investigations, we concluded that LEGO Mindstorms was the best option.  The other four, listed above, have steep learning curves at the start due to the complexity of the programming languages used.  Also the additional parts, such as motors and wheels, need to be purchased separately, are more difficult to assemble, and are less durable.