New Coding & Coloring Book

I often occupy my time during the cold winter months designing a new STEM activity. This year I wrote a storybook about a group of robots who compete in the Office Olympics during Send Your Robot toWork Day. 

The book is based around Botley, a coding robot from LearningResources. In the story, Botley is owned by Mr V, a wacky inventor who spends his days designing goofy gadgets for science teachers. As Botley and his friends compete in the Olympic events, they discover that someone is trying to sabotage the competition – magnets slow down motors, coding cards get switched, lights are turned off during line following. These are just a few of the many obstacles Botley and his friends must overcome.

There are 13 coding exercises sprinkled throughout the book. As kids follow along with the story, they are encouraged to pause and replicate Botley’s moves using the coding instructions found in the Try It Yourself sections. They can learn to make Botley talk, navigate a maze, follow lines, spin around, dance, and avoid obstacles (with Botley’s included activity set, it’s easy to create unique playing fields). Botley uses a Remote Programmer for coding rather than a computer or tablet making it the perfect beginning robot for those young students who haven’t yet learned to read but can manipulate a button-press. I tried it out on my 4-year old nephew, and he caught on immediately.

With the advent of the pandemic, publication of my book was put on hold. So I spent my time during lockdown illustrating the story with scenes of the robots and their various mishaps. Now the book is available in 2 formats on Amazon: a paperback coding and coloring book for the more creative types who like to incorporate a little artistic flair in their STEM activities; or an eBook – the cheaper alternative for those strictly interested in coding.

Incidentally, I have no affiliation with Learning Resources. I just think Botley is cute and clever. I recently discovered that Learning Resources came out with a Botley 2.0 – a second generation robot that still uses a Remote Programmer for coding. He’s got a few more button-presses and his eyes light up, but basically he operates in much the same way. If you have a young child quarantined at home during this pandemic, Botley is a great way to keep the hands-on principles of STEM alive.

Mechanical vs Motorized Attachments

As an FLL referee, one of the biggest mistakes I see teams make is with their attachments. Many teams use motors on their attachments, but if a motor can't complete its rotation the robot just stops. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen a team forget to lift the beam attached to the motor and when the robot goes to pick something up, the beam hits the ground and just stays there.

There's a motto we aspire to in engineering design - the most elegant design is the simplest. With a little ingenuity, most missions can be accomplished with a mechanical, non-motorized attachment. For example, in the Hydrodynamics Fountain mission you can build an attachment with the 5x7 beam frame - it's the perfect size to hold the Big Water. If you attach it to your robot with non-friction connector pegs, it will swivel back and forth like a teeter totter. Putting a couple 2x4 beams on the back of the frame will add enough weight to tip the Big Water back against the robot and keep it from falling out prematurely. As the robot approaches the fountain, the 2 axles in the front of the attachment will hit the edge of the fountain causing the Big Water to tip forward. Voila! An easy 20 points without motors.

Another example is the Flow mission. The rules were very strict this year in saying that the Big Water could only be released by turning the valves, but you don't need a motor to make this turn. You can use a couple 4x6 angular beams, one facing up and one facing down, to turn one of the valves in a counterclockwise direction. Actually one beam will work if you hit the edge of the valve in just the right spot, but the second beam gives you a little cushion on placement.

Reliability is another issue with attachments. Every year, at least one of the FLL missions requires a robot to pick up an object attached to a ring. This year it was the broken pipe. I've seen any number of different designs for this mission, some motorized, some not. Most of the time, when teams use a motor, it's to raise the attachment up so the ring doesn't fall off. Instead, you can build a simple locking latch that will open in one direction when you are retrieving the ring, but will lock into place when you are pulling it out of its holder allowing you to safely transport the object back to base without losing it.

Attachments can also be huge time wasters. Most teams use little black connector pegs to hook their attachments to their robots, but when you get stressed, those connector pegs often refuse to go into beam holes. A much better method of connecting attachments is to simply slide the beam holes on your attachment over a couple axles and 3x2 cross blocks. No matter how nervous you are, your attachments will slide on and off smoothly.

FLL Recap

I just finished ref’ing the qualifiers for our FIRST LEGO League robotics season – 6 events in 3 weeks. I must say when this year’s theme was first introduced (Hydrodynamics), I was very excited about the project aspect, but no so much the game. As an engineer, I thought the water theme lent itself particularly well to some interesting research ideas. But as a referee, I was a little fearful that the robot missions were a somewhat complicated for most kids, especially those on rookie teams (and in my neck of the woods, we had a lot of rookie teams).

In the past, there has always been one mission that basically involved sending the robot straight out of base to push some type of lever or handle. As referees, we hate to see teams walk away from the competition with no points, especially after 3 heats. These missions were always a way to allow teams to at least get on the board. However, this year, the two missions that came closest to meeting this simple criterion (the Filter and the Flow) were both tweaked in ways that made them difficult to complete successfully.

The Filter mission required the robot to push a handle until the lock latch dropped into place, but there were two factors complicating this mission. First, the handle on the mission model was positioned perpendicular to base so that the robot needed to make a 90° turn in its approach. Second, there was an obstruction next to the handle that prevented the handle from going all the way in (literally most times the handle was only a millimeter away from letting the lock latch drop). I’m sure that’s why this was one of the higher-point missions, but it still might have been nice to remove the obstruction and lower the points. (I know, “nice” is not usually a term equated with “competition,” but as an engineer I like to see young kids walk away feeling a sense of accomplishment with at least one mission.)

The Flow mission was the challenge that straddled the two competition tables. In the past, this mission has always been in the center of the playing field making it almost impossible for all but the tallest referees to reset. Thank goodness the designers moved this to the northwest corner of the table right across from base. However, rather than simply push the handle, the robot was required to turn one of two levers to release the water cylinder to the other player’s field – not an easy maneuver to make, especially for a rookie team.

The other missions attempted most often were the Pump Addition, the Fountain, the Pipe Removal, and the Tripod – all relatively close to base and involving fairly simple maneuvers. Several teams scored points on the Rain mission, but truthfully, the rain cylinders dropped more times by the robot accidentally bumping into the model rather than actually sliding its handle. So this year’s game turned out to be easier than I’d originally thought... or maybe kids are just getting cleverer in their robot designs.

2017-18 FIRST LEGO League Theme

When I went to referee training this week for the upcoming FIRST LEGO League season, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this years theme is HydroDynamics - Aqua Adventure. What an exciting topic for kids. It's been years since I studied civil engineering, but as I was reading through the Challenge Guide, I remembered all the fascinating topics we used to study relating to water quality - turbidity, salination, osmosis, etc.

Normally I prefer mentoring teams on the robot game portion of the contest, but this year's theme lends itself to so many interesting science investigations for the project portion of the contest that I thought I'd try out some of my new GoDirect sensors from Vernier Software & Technology. These handheld Bluetooth sensors are rugged, reliable, and safe (great for middle school classrooms). You can collect and analyze data with Vernier's Graphical Analysis app on any Android, iOS, or Chromebook mobile device. Vernier also publishes a book on Water Quality containing 18 different experiments, covering topics such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and stream flow. Some experiments, such as bacteria and water hardness, can be conducted without needing any sensors at all. You can find a description of these experiments and how to download the free app on the Vernier website if you don't already have an idea for your FLL project.

SmartGurlz Siggy Robot

I stumbled on a new robot geared toward girls. It's a programmable self-balancing scooter named, Siggy, that transports an 11-inch fashion doll. You can control Siggy via a Bluetooth LI connection on your smartphone or tablet using the SugarCoded app. Siggy comes with individually-controllable, dual-color LED headlights and 4 built-in sensors (ultrasonic distance, gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer). It's compatible with ioS 8 or Android 4.4, and is powered with a 9-volt battery.

Being someone who is always looking for ways to inspire girls to pursue engineering, I was really excited about this product. And after watching a YouTube review by DadDoes and receiving a discount code from SmartGurlz, I decided to buy one for myself. Unfortunately when it arrived, my first impressions were mixed.

Siggy is well-made and balances beautifully, but its power management is abysmal. I knew before purchasing that it tended to eat batteries (the published documentation estimates 3 hours of playing time - that's not even half a school day), so I also bought the rechargeable battery. I had a devil of a time getting it installed. The wire on the battery attachment is only an inch long and the tab at the top of the case prevents you from turning the battery sideways to connect it. Plus I had to hunt up a miniature Phillips screwdriver to take off the old battery cover and attach the new one.

Siggy comes with its own doll (there are 4 models to choose from). You must have a doll or some other 6 oz object resting on the base or Siggy won't balance. I chose Jen, mostly because I liked her "Smart Gurlz" shirt. Each doll comes with her own ebook (Jen is a blogger who is studying mechanical engineering).

With the SugarCoded app, you can drive Siggy in remote-control mode or program its movements with Blockley-based code. I've tried a few of the programming tutorials, but the app seems a bit buggy. And if I drive Siggy around at high-speed and it tips over (it can go pretty fast), I lose the Bluetooth connection (it takes a bit of fiddling to get it back). The app seems to have a lot of possibilities, but it's going to take some trial and error, since I couldn't find any tutorials on the SmartGurlz website.

OzoBlockly

I decided to try out OzoBlockly - a drag-and-drop block-based language much like Scratch or AppInventor. The commands (especially movements) are tailored to the Ozobot (obviously). Since it's a web-based application, you can use it on any platform with a web browser, including mobile devices. Nothing unexpected so far, but my big question was how to get the program into the Ozobot. And that is what I found incredibly fascinating. You simply place the Ozobot against your device screen and the code is read in by the sensors on the bottom...genius.

One of the things I truly admire about this product is the elegance in its simplicity.

If you want to try out OzoBlockly, there are several beginner examples listed in the side bar of the program. There is also a reference section that gives detailed information about each programming block. Many of the challenges come with maps you can print out for the Ozobot to follow (I just use regular settings on my inkjet printer with white copy paper). I don't have a user account yet, since I don't have an Evo, but if you are programming on a laptop, you can save your programs to the computer (they are saved in the Download folder). One final feature, especially for older students, is the ability to see the JavaScript syntax for your program.

Ozobot Footnote

I discovered the trouble with using the Ozobot with today's pre-schoolers is that they are encouraged to "color outside the lines." Unfortunately, the Ozobot is more old-school. 

I tested out the Ozobot with my 4-year old niece. She loves to draw and is learning to write her name, but that meant she was always trying to draw lines with the pointed end of the marker. I'm kind of surprised that the Ozobot markers even have a pointed end, given that the robot needs a fairly wide line to follow. The Ozobot markers have a nice chisel tip, but when I tried it myself, I realized that you have to hold the markers at a fairly large slant in order to draw a thick line (more of a slant than you would naturally hold a pencil). I think using a regular blunt tip marker (possibly Expo?) would work better for a younger child.

The second issue was coloring in her own codes. The activity sheets have the squares outlined in a light gray. They're even labeled with the colors you should be using. However, the Ozobot takes readings so frequently that gaps between blocks or coloring beyond the length of the block tends to confuse the robot. Of course, to a 4-year old, erratic behavior in anything is hysterical, but that wasn't really the point of the lesson. The next time, I think we'll try using the sticker sheets for inserting color codes.