General
Topic outline
WHAT IS EDUCATIONAL ROBOTICS?
Educational robotics aims to encourage students to develop their skills and abilities through the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, which is known by the term STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
The skills and abilities that students will acquire will be reinforced through teamwork, the ability to learn through mistakes and the research they will have to carry out in order to provide solutions to the problem that will be entrusted to them.
Throughout the learning process in this platform, the level of difficulty of the challenges will increase, so that a balance is maintained between the ability of students to solve and the difficulty of the activity, thus preventing the student from feeling disinterest because the challenges are too simple or, on the contrary, frustrating because they are too complex.
Students will also acquire computational knowledge, that is, they will begin to start in the world of computer programming, knowing the first steps of programming and develop it exponentially, since the software that will be used for programming will be based on Scratch, programming using blocks, so it is very simple and intuitive to start programming.
Therefore, educational robotics has great benefits for students, acquiring skills and attitudes necessary for their personal and professional future, encouraging interest in STEM activities, and as a complement, improve their English, as the activities can also perform in this language.
And most importantly, it's the best way to learn by playing.
FIRST STEPS
As an introductory activity to the Educational Robotics, we present some of the most affordable robots in the market for the development of the proposed activities.
MBOT
MBOT RANGER
TINKERBOTS
BQ PRINTBOT EVOLUTION
BQ ZOWI
LEGO MINDSTORMS
WOW WEE CODER MIP
WOW WEE COJI
MBOT & MBOT RANGER
The mBot and the mBot Ranger are two robots of Makeblock, ideal for students to begin in robotics, programming and electronics.
It is based on Arduino and Scratch.
mBot does not need wiring thanks to its RJ25 connectors, which allows its electronic components to be easily used.
Are Open Source.
They are the two robots chosen to develop the challenges that will be carried out during the courses implemented in this platform.
TINKERBOTS
It combines robotics with construction, so it allows you to carry out everything you imagine.
It is compatible with the open-source Arduino platform and can be programmed in C.
BQ PRINT EVOLUTION
https://www.bq.com/es/printbot-evolution
The electronic components that it incorporates are:
- Controller shield BQ Zum Core.
- (x2) Light Sensors ZUMBloq.
- Buzzer ZUMBloq.
- A double infrared sensor ZUMBloq.
- Ultrasound sensor.
- Linefollower sensor.
- Mini servo motor.
- (x2) rotating servo motors.
It also incorporates a "Kit of printed parts + electronics".
It can be programmed through blocks in Bitbloq.
Internal application of remote control: Robopad.
BQ ZOWI
This friendly robot has a purpose: to teach children that technology can be transparent, close and fun.
It is an open source robot.
It can be programmed in Bitbloq.
LEGO MINDSTORMS
https://www.lego.com/es-es/mindstorms
LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 allows you to build, program and control your own LEGO robots in the smartest and fastest way.
WOW WEE CODER MIP
MiP responds to gestures with your hands, has its own weight and comes with a free application that allows you to drive it, fight against other MiPs and much more.
WOW WEE COJI
Programming through the emoji language.
You can control the COJI from your smartphone.
You can program different types of games.
It allows the development of STEM skills and to face the resolution of problems.
Proposal Activity
As a first activity, we propose the programming of different robots so that they are able to follow the black line and in case of finding an obstacle stop.
The objective of this activity is to show different robots and alternatives to mBot, so all the robots have been programmed to perform the same task through different softwares.
Next, we will show some code captures that have been used in the different robots for the programming of the following lines:
LEGO MINDSTORMS CODE
BQ PRINT EVOLUTION
MBOT
MBOT RANGER
