Junkbots

About - LEGO Mindstorms Junkbots : "The idea behind the LEGO Mindstorms Junkbots is to bring together the motors of the LEGO and use them to power the robot which is otherwise created from junk. The key aims of the project are; To give children at a KS2 primary school level an insight into what can be achieved through the use of simple programming. To provide a fun and engaging activity for children to be creative and design their own robots. To use the robots and programming software to achieve basic movements of the Junkbots. The original junkbots project combined the idea of using motors and vibrations to move the bots with limited control however the new project uses the idea of programming to add a further element of control and as such the simplicity of the self contained NXT device was decided upon as a branch of this. Aiming the project at KS1 and KS2 gives the opportunity to introduce basic programming from a young age and demonstrate just one of the interesti...

In a recent post ( http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/junkbot-project-evolves1-idea.html ) we looked at the adding Mindstorm NXT brick and motors to a drinks can to produce a junkbot. Here are some videos showing it in action: For more information on how this was done go to:  http://legojunkbots.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/2/2/37227791/nuffield_nxt_mindstorms.docx or  http://legojunkbots.weebly.com / If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

Taken from:  http://computingnorthampton.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/physical-computing-junkbots-with-brain.html Figure 1 A new stage for the Junkbots project ( http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/  ) starts this week. Up to this point the junk bot building has largely being about building a moving (or drawing) 'bot' moved by vibration - limited control, but fun. This week, A  Nuffield funded bursary studen t starts working on investigating whether LEGO NXT or Raspberry Pi based solutions can be incorporated with the bot to add some control of the movement (still by vibration). Idea One  Is to add a LEGO NXT brick, plus motors that are made to vibrate, to a junkbot similar to one shown in figure 1. The motor and broken propeller combination being replaced with the NXT brick and LEGO motor. A good potential feature is it a self-contained unit with power and control together, as well as being potentially fairly simple to set-up. Idea Two Is to do a similar approach as...

Taken from a blog written at Irchester Primary School  http://lab13network.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/dads-robot-lab/ about a robot activity. For more details about Lab_13 go to:  http://lab13network.wordpress.com/   Dad’s Robot Lab! Posted on   November 28, 2012   Hi! This is Morgan and Emily. Our Dads come to Dads Club in Lab_13. Last week, we had some visitors! They demonstrated how all of the robots worked. There were some amazing remote controlled robots and a Lego robot. The name of the person who worked with all of the extraordinary robots was Scott Turner. We were amazed by the robots. Thank you for coming.  The Lego robot could be controlled by the computer. The other robot could do handstands, roly-polys and cartwheels. Some were doing gymnastics, walking, bowing and dancing. The Lego robot just went all over the place!   Emily’s stepdad, Robin, said “ It was fantastic – I want a robot for Christmas.” ...

A lego controlled junkbot has been produced, Hayley Stevenson has produced a walking model from straws and cotton. Together we combined this with two motors from LEGO NXT set and wrote some java code to get it to move. More details can be found at:  http://junkbots-hayleystevenson.blogspot.com/2011/08/day-18-my-last-day.html  including video of it working. LEGO arrangement The walking model This has new junkbot is very much in-line with the ideas behind the projects, combining engineering, waste and computing to produce something new.

 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 aro...

Thank you to the students and staff at Brooke Weston School, Corby, UK for working with us on this project. Here are some of the comments made by the students. Several of the students identified some interesting features about building robots out of 'junk': "We had the [f]reedom to show the teachers what skills we have" (Student B) "interesting overall" (Student H) "...but frustrating because modifications were frequent" (Student J) "The activity was very fun and creative. We experience lots of difficulties to overcome." (Student K) "it was nice have time off timetable once in a while" (Student N) "I found that building the junk bots has made me some new friends..." (Student T) "...as we[ we]re able to put any ideas forward to put ideas forward to create our own creation" (Student V) The programming of the robots caused a differences in opinion which seemed to come down to two main factors, that th...

Students at Brooke Weston School, Corby have been working with the University of Northampton's School of Science and Technology on the junkbots project. Scott Turner and Terry Tudor on the 16th and 17th February 2010 went to the school to run the sessions. Starting with a talk and activities on waste management, including how much waste the UK produced, and in terms of numbers of slices of toast what is the cost of energy of leaving a monitor on overnight.   The task was to produce robots out of rubbish that could carry other rubbish into a containment area. The change made to the sessions was that students brought there own 'junk' to the sessions. S ome innovative and creative designs were produced involving 'legs', wheels (including turning cans into wheels and wheels from old toys).    Some of the designs pushed rubbish into the area, but one of the designs carried the rubbish into the area and some designs used magnets to pick up small steel parts (nuts a...

Feedback from the sessions in December are very encouraging. When students were asked to grade out of 5 the sessions overall ( scores with 1 being poor and 5 excellent) of the twenty replies received 100% were rate at 4 (65%)or 5(35%). In all the questions asked, the feedback was in the majority rated three or above. For this group of the students the creative aspects of the activities engaged them and this was reflected in their feedback. Quotes from some of the students: “it was fun and creative, I learnt quite a bit” “It let use be creative with our design.” “it opened my eyes to engineering” This last one is especially of note as the aim of the project is to encourage engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects. The waste management activities seem to engage from the point of view of helping them to understand their own impact both positively and negatively. “...it was cool to know what my carbon footprint is.” “... made me think about all...

Students at Thomas Becket Catholic School have been working with the University of Northampton's School of Science and Technology on the junkbots project. Kerrie Henton, Vice Principal at Thomas Becket Catholic School said 'We are committed to environmental sustainability at Thomas Becket and any opportunity we can give our students to engage in an exciting learning opportunity that is good for the community is something we couldn't turn down. The students and staff supporting the project have had an excellent time and the robots they produced from rubbish are just superb' A Student  (14) said 'It's been very good and great fun and it has made me realise aspects about the environment that I never realised before. We have even found ways to save the school money which I am sure the Head will be pleased about'.

The School of Science and Technology at the University of Northampton have been working with local schools to create robots made from junk. This is an initiative by the University to introduce environmental sustainability, engineering and computing to students and has been been funded by Northampton Enterprise Limited and east midlands development agency (emda ). This project sets out to engage pupils with a set of activities over four three-hour sessions that provides an insight into STEM subjects. The workshops will be structured in the following way: (a)Session 1: Introduction to waste management, its impact, recycling and reuse. An introduction to the idea of making robots from rubbish. (b)Two sessions involving guided exercises. · Session 2: Involves some problem-solving exercises (approx. ½ hour), then in groups investigate adding ‘junk’ with a new electrical components such as batteries and motors to use vibrations to move the robots. · Session 3: To appl...