Over the past few weeks Mr Cooper and Mr Nicholls have been running an activity with four Year 10 boys where they have been learning how to programme Edison Robots. These little characters can be programmed via a barcode, via an optical link to a digital device or they can even learn the signal from your TV remote.
The boys have been charged with using resources to learn how to control the devices through failure. They have to trial an approach and then reflect on its success. They then adapt their approach in light of the feedback they get from the robots ability to complete a task from their programme. By using flowchart software the students are able to make the robot move forwards, turn, play music, flash lights, sense objects, count and so on. The latest task they had to solve was navigating around a work bench to return to the box the robot started from. Interestingly, whilst the boys got close to completing the task they did not manage it in full. This provided them with the opportunity to analyse where they had gone wrong and to start thinking more analytically and systematically about how to approach problems.
The Edison robots are new to education and were developed by a Design Technology teacher in Australia. They are designed to be low cost and Lego compatible which means they can be linked together and expanded upon with resources that people often have to hand. The programming software is free to download and it can be hosted on a tablet, phone or PC.
The next step is for the Year 10’s to run a club for Year 7s or 8s to introduce them to the world of robotics.
- Mr Nicholls and Mr Cooper
Owned by: SNS | Last Published: 02/03/2016 10:00:41 | Next Update: NA
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