Robots and Physical Computing

The Raspberry Pi Foundation recently released a programming activity Alien Language , with support Dale from Machine Learning for Kids , that is a brilliant use of Scratch 3 - Speech Recognition to control a sprite in an alien language. Do the activity, and it is very much worth doing, and it will make sense! I  would also recommend going to the  machinelearningforkids.co.uk   site anyway it is full of exciting things to do (for example loads of activities  https://machinelearningforkids.co.uk/#!/worksheets  ) . Scratch 3 has lots of extensions that are accessible through the Extension button in the Scratch 3 editor (see below) which add new fun new blocks to play with. The critical thing for this post is  Machine Learning for Kids  have created a Scratch 3 template with their own extensions for Scratch 3 within it  https://machinelearningforkids.co.uk/scratch3/ . One of which is a Speech to Text extension (see below). You must use this one ...

I have recently taken two robots to a Code Club, here are a couple of reflections/observations. Cozmo This robot produced by Anki is incredibly cute - a cross between Wall-E and a pet in some respects. The code below was produced by the 'Code-Clubbers' and gets Cozmo to speak move around and operate its forks at the front. Anecdotally, someone was trying to work on something but couldn't resist coming and having another look at what it was doing. Ohbot Ohbot provided a different opportunity to play with a robot, getting to move the mouth, speak and track faces. My first impression was some of the children were a bit wary, until they found out they could control what it says and that seemed to break the ice. All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon

These little devices provide something different to a code. To see the coding interface go to  http://www.codebug.org.uk/  (or see figures 1 and 2) and click on create. Last two weeks Week 1  The code clubbers initially shared machines, playing with the CodeBug environment, practice downloading to the bug, writing a routine to scroll their short message. The challenge was then to develop a routine to have a smiley face and a grumpy face scroll across the screen. Week 2 All have access to the simulation and code generation on codebug.org.uk but this time they don’t have the CodeBug each, they have complete a challenge and run it on the simulation before get a CodeBug to try it. This week's challenge was to get the smiley and grumpy face from week 1 to be selected via the buttons (A and B) - so it involved a loop and conditional statements. Most of them picked it up very quickly. Two version were built - I reconstructed the ideas in f...

We are putting our coding to the test at Code Club after school. pic.twitter.com/CcFi5Mg4PK — St Luke's Primary (@DustonStLukes) May 24, 2016 Recently i have been taking a Parrot minedrone and the Tickle App ( https://tickleapp.com/en-us/ ) to Code Club session, as an extra activity. For those there actually programmed something that flies and it is quite engaging - having something you are controlling being able to move in all directions. I wish the mini-drone had a little bit more battery time (I would suggest getting an extra battery). Combining with the drone and the Tickle App does add something to the experience, rather than just control it directly (though that is fun). The noise is also not to everyone's taste so it has to be used carefully in that context, but also from a safety point of view. All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any ass...

Earlier this week (21st March 2016) the Ozobot Bit were used as an extra activity at a Code Code - they went down very well with the children.  Using Ozoblocky ( http://ozoblockly.com/editor ) they just played with making a short routine on a PC and download it to the ozobot. Some very anecdotal observations: - It would probably be better running this on tablet rather than a PC. There is nothing wrong with the software, but holding a bot against a screen, even one as light as ozobots, gets a bit tiring. If it was on a screen flat on the desk there wouldn't be a need to hold it. It is obvious with hindsight. - Though movement was a big attraction for the children, the flashing light patterns seem to be, for the groups who work on it, a bigger attraction. - The transition in moving from Scratch to Blockly was relatively smooth. They all asked can they have the next session being solely about using robots. As the author of this blog, I am clearly positively biased to...