This month I've been writing a curriculum for the mBot. It's a cute little robot, about 4" x 6" that you program with your tablet or phone. One of the "perks" of this job is that my boss loaned me an iPad to test it out - the screen is much easier to see (larger) than my Android phone. The 2 circles on the front of the robot that look like eyes are really the transmitter and receiver of a position sensor. The robot uses it to keep from running into walls. There's another sensor on the bottom of the robot underneath the smile. It's supposed to follow a black line, but it's glitchy as can be (my Ozobot does a much better job).
The new programming languages they are coming up with for kids are so easy to code. Everything is done with your fingers. They use pre-made blocks that you drag around and snap together to make a program. There are a few words to tell you what the block is supposed to do and you just tap on it if you want to change something. The program above is just a simple driving program. When you tap on the speed blocks, a menu pops up asking if you want to go "slow," "medium," or "fast." The program decides what number to put in the box.
This program drives the robot in a square... brainless.
I even added a program that kids will love for a robot alarm. If someone tries to steal their robot, the robot will start beeping. Of course, it will probably drive teachers crazy when all the robots start making noise, but the kids will be having fun and hopefully learning something in the process. It sure beats the way I learned how to program with stacks of punch cards.
