Robots and Physical Computing

How a drinks can, a small motor, and a cheap programmable controller can open a world of making, tinkering, and genuine engineering thinking — for kids and adults alike. Eggbot  There is something quietly radical about the Junkbot idea. It started not with a lesson plan or a product brief, but with a question: what can you actually make with the stuff lying around? Over nearly a decade of exploration, educator and maker Scott Turner refined a simple concept — a vibrating robot built from a drinks can, a small motor, and a handful of pens — into something that touches on environmental science, engineering, and computing all at once. This post is for the makers who like to build first and ask questions later, for parents who want to spark something in a curious kid on a weekend, and for educators looking to point people toward genuinely interesting projects. We are going to look at how you build one, and then think about where the idea can go next. Why junk? The word “junk” i...

On the 17th April 2018 I had the honour of presenting a public talk on robots for the Northampton Branch of the Britsh Computer Society (BCS). This post aims to summarise the session. The session was really from a personal perspective and journey, covering where I think robots in home and schools are going, and an overview of some of the projects I have been involved. First, part was the presentation - the slides are shown below. Robots Talk British Computer Society Northampton_17_4_2018 from Scott Turner The videos used in the presentations are shown below. The first video is an introduction and welcome from Red the Nao robot. Next video shows a programmed Cozmo, using Anki's graphical programming language. Second section of the session was playing with the robots. Red the Nao , an Anki Cozmo and an UBtech Alpha2 and having a play with a Crumble -based junkbots.  Crumble junkbots were used on PC and Raspberry Pi via Pi-top CEED . Red ...

Guest Blogger Nathaniel Roberts, Nuffield Research Placement Student working at the University of Northampton. Nuffield Research Placement scheme provides students in their first year of a post16 course to work with STEM professionals  http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/nuffield-research-placements . Toilet Roll Junkbot Nathaniel Roberts Cut a slit in a toilet roll. Cut another toilet roll in half, then arrange the pieces in a T. Feed the bottom of the T into the slit, and tape together. Cut two lines into the edge, and do the same on the opposite side of the circle. Copy this for the other side of the tube. These geared motors from the Camjam EduKit 3 should fit into those gaps. Stick a battery pack to the back, and use crocodile clips to wire it all up to a crumble. The battery pack can connect to the + and - on either side at the top of the crumble, and the motors connect to the + and - of their respective sides of the crumble. Using a M...

I recently ran a talk and workshop on Junkbots at Wicksteed Park's Science Cafe as part of British Science Week.  The slides below contain the talk. Junkbots 2017 from Scott Turner The Science Café was established at Wicksteed Park, as the Park's creator Charles Wicksteed was an inventor and a successful engineer, giving visitors the opportunity to engage in science activities over coffee and cake in an informal and fun environment. News articles about this workshop: http://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/learn-about-charles-wicksteed-s-legacy-during-british-science-week-events-at-kettering-park-1-7864098 http://www.connectfm.com/2017/03/10/87414/ Find out more at the British Science Week website 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

Over the last eight years I have been working (off and on) on a project, junkbots ( http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/introduction.html ), in which 'junk' is used to embed environmental, engineering and computing concepts. One part that has grown from this project is using drinks cans, motor, batteries and something to unbalance the motor to produce a vibrating 'bot' that move along a smooth surface.  To add a little more control both Raspberry Pis ( http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/raspberry-pi-controlled-robot-from-junk.html ) and Micro:bits ( http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/do-it-yourself-remote-controlled.html ) have been investigated. In this post a Crumble controller from Redfern Electronics is used. The crumble controller is an excellent board for this project, it is relatively cheap, it is programmable with it's own graphical language, and it has motor drivers built in. In the figure to the lef...

Poster presented at PyCon UK 2016, 17th September 2016. Pyconuk16 junkbots   from  Scott Turner DOI:  10.13140/RG.2.2.28682.67520 For more details on the three builds: Raspberry Pi based:  http:// bit.ly /2c87qex Basic Micro:Bit build:  http:// bit.ly /2cmJo0B Radio Control Micro:Bit  Junkbot :  http:// bit.ly /2cMHpDa 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

In an earlier post , I showed how you could build a Micro:Bit controlled Junkbot. In this post I want to show a modification to it, to use one Micro:Bit to control the junkbot controlled by another Micro:Bit. A nice feature of the Micro:Bit using micropython, is it can send and receive simple messages via radio - so here is my take on it. The first problem is the Python editor available on  https://www.microbit.co.uk/ does not seem to work with the radio API. One solution to this is to change to the mu editor. Two pieces of code are needed. Sending Code for the 'remote' control: Essentially it is set up to send two messages, via the built-in radio module,  spinl  or spinr  depending on which button is pressed. import radio from microbit import button_a, button_b radio.on() while True:    if button_a.is_pressed():        radio.send('spinl')    if button_b.is_pressed():        ra...

What is a Junkbot? For this project, it is a moving ‘bot’ made from waste materials, combined with an electric motor and a programmable device (in this case a Micro:Bit) to control (or try) it. An example is shown below. More details on junkbots can be found at  http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/ Stage 1 - The start of a Junkbot This stage is relatively simple. Tape some pens or straws to a drinks can. Stage 2 - Physical arrangement of Microbit and motor control board The control part is this via a Micro:bit ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4hVG2Br1W1LKCmw8nSm9WnQ/the-bbc-micro-bit) . Kitronik produce a motor driver board, and provide quite a bit of support for it, for the Micro:Bit (the latest version of the board can be found at  https://www.kitronik.co.uk/5620-motor-driver-board-for-the-bbc-microbit-v2.html  ). A 6v battery pack is connected (see on the left of the image) and wires going to a motor are attached to the ...

A new direction has been developed for the junkbot project ( http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/ ) ; previously Raspberry Pis have been used to control the junkbot’s movement ( http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/python-junkbot.html )  – but what about the recently released Micro:Bits; can it be used to control a junkbot? Matthew Hole, a student from Wrenn Academy, Northamptonshire ; has been investigating this idea whilst on a Nuffield Research Placement ( http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/nuffield-research-placements) working with Dr Scott Turner, University of Northampton. The project was to look into developing junkbots controlled using a Micro:bit and also to produce some materials for schools to use with or without outside assistance. What is a Junkbot? For this project, it is a moving ‘bot’ made from waste materials, combined with an electric motor and a programmable device (in this case a Micro:Bit) to control (or try) it. A...