Robots and Physical Computing

In a recent post controlling the Sphero BB-8 with the Tickle App was discussed. This is not the only alternative software, the Tynker App can also control it. This is also a graphical drag and drop programming tool, that you can connect certain 'toys' to. Though the App itself is about developing programming skills. The Sphero BB-8 Droid can be connected to Tynker (or how I did it anyway) by: Clicking on the Create button on the opening screen; Clicking on Blank Template; Deleting the 'Actor' that has there and clicking on the + button in the top right hand corner of the screen; Clicking on connected toys and selecting the grey ball; On the main screen it should say spherobot with a code button at the side, click on the button; You should get a screen with some code for changing the colour shown and then moving in a square- you can change this for your own code. Not all the commands, listed down the side, will work with the BB-8 - I re...

Previously I have shown the Sphero BB-8 rolling around the room under its own control .  One of the features of the Sphero BB-8 Droid  is it programmable either by its own downloadable software but also by one of my favourite apps - TickleApp  which has been discussed in previous posts. This app allows control of a quite an impressive range of devices using the same interface. Examples, some of which have been discussed previously (e.g Parrot Minidrone  or Dash and Dot ), are shown below.  The App uses an graphical programming interface similar to Scratch or Blockly  to produce code. The example here it a very simple one of: Spin twice for one second; Move roughly in a square; If the BB-8 collides (or is bumped) it is set to spin twice for a second.   Ok, not the most sophisticated bit of coding; but it ...

Sorry not programming this time, but this is a great little toy. An App-control robot from Sphero based on the Star Wars new Sphero BB-8 Droid . The video shows it in patrol mode, which in the case of my one is either rolling under the chair or rolling around the room. One of the other parts of the app include an augmented reality option where on the tablet it appears to be projecting messages and videos (included ones you create). It is difficult to resist playing with this one.