Robots and Physical Computing

This is really pulling together two recent posts, one when I started playing with Edublocks for the microbit  and one about playing with BinaryBots Crab  . The BinaryBots Totem Crab is available at  https://www.binarybots.co.uk/crab.aspx Here I going to use Edublocks ( https://microbit.edublocks.org/ ) by @all_about_code to control the claw of the Crab to close when button A is pressed (and display a C on the LEDs)  and open the claw when button B is pressed. For a discussion on the Crab and what the pins are, etc goto  http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.com/2018/08/crabby-but-fun.html  for more details.  The timing of the opening and closing is controlled by how long the C or O takes to scroll across the LEDs. As an aside, but I found it interesting (it appeals to my geekiness), if you save the blocks, using the Save button; it stores it as an XML file, an example extract is shown below: Now I want to exp...

The microbit is a great piece of kit, not least of which because of the range of programming languages and tools that can be used with it - officially JavaScript and Python and but there is also a range of third-party ones. A useful place to look for what languages/tools  are available is  http://microbit.org/code-alternative-editors/ ; listing both official and third-party tools (there was a few I wasn't aware of ). One I was aware and meaning to play with, is the brilliant Edublocks by Josh Lowe ( @ all_about_code ) or more   specifically in this post Edublocks for BBC Micro:bit  ( https://microbit.edublocks.org/ ). Edublocks for the microbit (and Edublocks in general) allows graphical blocks of code, in a similar way to languages such as Scratch, to be dragged and dropped into places. That in itself would be great, but the really useful thing here is though, whilst doing it you are actually producing a Python program (technically in th...

The Beta version of Scratch 3 ( https://scratch.mit.edu/microbit ) allows certain physical computing devices to interact with the Scratch; including the micro:bit. This post looks at a little experiment with the micro:bit; producing a pen that moves around the screen controlled by tilting a micro:bit. Set-up In the video above an example of the pen moving under micro:bit control is shown. Also, some discussion of setting up Scratch to work with the micro:bit is included. The best source for the instructions to set up the micro:bit/Scratch combination and the links needed is  https://scratch.mit.edu/microbit . The key features are: - The programming of the Micro:bit via Scratch is not done by downloading a new .hex file each time as you do with the python or the javascript blocks but is done through the Scratch Link which has to be run separately to the Scratch editor each time you have a session using Scratch and the Micro:bit. There ...

Just started playing with one of BinaryBots latest Totem robots - Crab  https://www.binarybots.co.uk/crab.aspx , which as the name suggests is a crab-like robot kit with controllable via a Microbit a claw.  It is early days playing at the moment, but some initial thoughts. You get a solid looking (and is solid) robot when it is built via a 'meccano-esque ' like construction material - Totem . A brief note on the Totem system is it is nice to build with, the design around the square nuts mean they slot into the structs and stay there - a nice feature, and the all the tools needed to build the structure come with the kit. The only thing missing from the kit is the micro:bit, but if you buying the kit you probably already have one (or more) microbits; or you can get one at the same time as buying the kit. Two boards come with the kit. First one, the power board, has the battery holder and connections for motors. The second the BinaryBot sensor ...

In a previous post , I tried to persuade you that using A-Frame it is not too hard to use for some simple Augmented Reality (AR) for free, via a browser, but also runs on a mobile device. Well I going to continue and put objects with images imposed on them into this AR system - which could be quite a quick way to get an organisations logo into AR. Summary In the first post  WebVR playtime 1: Basics of setting up, images and rotating blocks ,  I looked at setting up a scene, rotating an object.   S econd pos t, recapped the basics, then look at adding video, 360 degree video, and models developed elsewhere.  The third post  started looking at using WebVR as part of an augmented reality solution building on the great resource  Creating Augmented Reality with AR.js and A-Frame  by Jerome Etienne, creator of AR.js. This gave us the starting code.  In this post, the ideas are extended further to adding or ...

I am going to try to persuade you that using A-Frame it is not hard to do some simple Augmented Reality (AR) for free, via a browser, but that also can run on a mobile device. Introduction This is part of a short series of articles about some experiments with WebVR Web-based Virtual Reality - in this case based on the wonderful A-Frame  ( https://aframe.io )   .  In the first post  WebVR playtime 1: Basics of setting up, images and rotating blocks ,  I looked at setting up a scene and then rotating an object.  In the second pos t, recapped the basics, then look at adding video, 360 degree video, and models developed elsewhere. In this post we are going to start looking at using WebVR as part of an augmented reality solution. I going to start by building on the great resource Creating Augmented Reality with AR.js and A-Frame by Jerome Etienne, creator of AR.js - the starting code below and the basis of the solution ...

On 26th June 2018 I was very pleased to talk about the work members of the Computing team at the University of Northampton have been involved in, around games within the teaching of problem-solving and programming. The recent #WomenEd meeting, in Milton Keynes, organised by Anita Devi ( @Butterflycolour ), Anne Goldsmith ( @AnneMGoldsmith ) and Jay Rixon( @teaching_think ) (focused on Games in Education and a lively discussion on this topic was had, after a number of presentations. Below are the slides to my presentation. Games in Teaching Programming: HE Perspective   from  Scott Turner DOI:  https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6726032.v1 Some of the tweets from the event #Edgames as promised here is my crib sheet on games and tech in the classroom- feel free to share it or download it! https://t.co/rha6Zt4LMU — ThinkTeaching (@teaching_think) June 28, 2018 Thanks for coming @cookiehj1 it was such a rich discussion! Thanks...