Robots and Physical Computing

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...

Experimenting with an Aldebaran NAO robot - nicknamed Smurf - to get the robot to deliver a short welcome. The video below show the robot being simulated using the code in figure 1 and then shows the 'Smurf' actually carrying out the routine (the bottom video show this bit without the simulator). The only difference in the code on the simulator and the one running on the actual robot was an extra command was added at the start of the one on the robot to only start when the top of the head is tapped. figure 1. Choregraphe program for the routine. 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.

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...

Recent had a great time playing with a MakeyMakey board (see an example below taken from an Amazon site) with some Beaver Scouts.  The basis of the activity was a very simple scratch program; where the 'space' key (banana number one) played one recording and 'left key' (better know as banana number two) played another recording.  Started with a few drum sounds, but when the session really took off was when they started recording their own sounds. Lots of shouts, shrieks and names but it engaged them…and left me with two very smashed up bananas. Details of the MakeyMakey boards can be found at:  http://www.makeymakey.com/ 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.

I was fortunate to get a place at Picademy (#picademy) this week. It was a fantastic opportunity and great fun, especially as most of it was about Physical computing. In the screenshot above I was playing SonicPi ( http://sonic-pi.net/ ) programming music (or trying to create music in my case). If you haven't had a go at throughly recommend it. It is great that SonicPi is available on the Mac and PC as well.  Playing with connecting Python and Minecraft is very engaging and fun, but programming LEDs and Motors through either the the GPIO or using an HAT (see the images below) is just what I enjoy the most. In the above image was my attempt at a simple 'Dalek' - essentially a cup and straw, with a wheeled motor inside. Controlled using python,  Pi through an ExplorerHat. It essentially moved in a circle either clockwise or anti-clockwise. Rise of Rabbitsapien - A team of us put together a project of a robot with a rabbit (no other soft toys were ava...