Huxlow Pt 2: Lego Robots

 The second half (programming lego robots) on the junkbots project has been carried out at Huxlow Science College on 28th February 2011.

At the start of the day most of the students had not previously programmed a robot or (knowingly) a computer.

The first task was to get the robot to collect some rubbish and push it over a line and then move back to the another line. All groups programmed the robot to do this and some groups add a sweeper to the front of the robot to push several items at once across the line.

The second task was to get the robot to collect the rubbish this time, but without adding any attachments to the front of the robot. Several groups successfully did this, by programming the robot to follow a path that collected the rubbish (drinks cans) and put them behind the line.

The third and fourth tasks involved the use of a sensor:
-To build the robot that did not move unless there was a can in front of the robot.
-To build a robot that went around the can when it detected it.

Some of these students went from never programming to programming robots that could react to objects all in one day.

Feedback from this group for the junkbots activity (figure 1)  and the lego robot (figure 2) activities was generally good. Thank you to all those who took part.

Figure 1: Junkbot activity (Day 1)

Figure 2: Lego Robots (Day 2)