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EP01 Guide for Cheering Robot Workshop
Overview
In this workshop, students need to work in teams to design and make a cheering robot. Every time you pass by the cheering robot, it will cheer you up by making actions and sounds.
Difficulty Level: 3
Setup
Age: k2-k6
Number of Participants: 2~24
● 2~3 students for one team
● Prepare a name label for each student in case they don’t know each other
● Arrange tables and chairs in U-shape for each team
● Put tools and other materials in two specified places of the room
Learning Goals
● Design and make a cheering robot
● Develop teamwork skills
● Learn to build up a circuit with BOSON
● Use digital media tools to shoot video clips
Materials
● BOSON Inventor Kit V1.0 (Refer to introduction for more details)
● Lego Blocks
Tool
● Camera or Smart Phone
Time
2~3 hours.
Award and Evaluation Criteria
Students should be informed of the award and evaluation criteria. Special awards will be given to individuals or teams who perform well in the competition.
Process
● Warm-up
5min Get to know a robot
● Introduction
8~12min a. What is BOSON? b. Project interaction display c. Get to know modules and learn how to connect
● Start Making
20~40min a. Analyze and check b. Build up and assemble
● Test
5min a. Test structure and function
● Optimization
5~10min a. Project optimization
● Share
5~20min a. Video shooting b. Project presentation
● Evaluation
5min Project evaluation
● Clean up
5min Dismantle projects and clean up
● Rethink
5min Projects review
Warm-up (5min): teachers ask questions to lead students to get to know what a robot is.
●What is a robot?
●Have you ever seen a robot in movies or cartoons? What does it look like?
●What can a robot do?
Introduction(8~12min)
a.What is BOSON?
b.Project interaction display
c. Get to know modules and learn how to connect
What is BOSON? Teachers play the video below to show students what BOSON is?
Project interaction present
● Teachers demonstrate the project interaction effect using material objects.
● Present the project effect by playing video
BOSON module function and connection
Teachers tell students the module name and similar applications in daily life.
The cheering robot needs power from main-board and power source.
The cheering robot needs to detect the presence and movement of people in a certain range, so a motion sensor is required in this project.
A speaker and a voice recorder module are used here to let the cheering robot make sounds, and they are actuators.
The robot still has to do cheer-up actions, so the motor controller module and motor are necessary here, they are also actuators.
When the presence of people is detected, the cheering robot will do the cheer-up actions and make sounds simultaneously. How can one signal of a motion sensor control two actuators at the same time? A splitter module, also function module, does the work.
Have you noticed the color of these BOSON modules? Red is always for power supply, blue for sensor, green for actuator, and yellow for function module. How can we connect them correctly?
Place the blue sensor on the left side of the power board, and the green actuator on the right side.
The yellow function module can be placed between the sensor and the power main board or between the power main board and the actuator according to its function.
Start Making (20min~40min):
Analyze(how to realize functions and connect hardware) and check; build up and
assemble.
Test (5min):
Test whether the project structure is firm and all the modules are tightly clamped. Function test: teachers maintain the order of the workshop to let students test their projects.
● No people around the cheering robot, motor and speaker not work
●People walk by the cheering robot, motor and speaker work at the same time
Optimization (5~10min):
● Use more Lego blocks to decorate the robot
●Improve the project structure
●Connect with more BOSON modules to add functions
Share(5~20min)
a.Shoot a video for the project, and post it to social account.
● Project display
● Effect demonstration
● Group photo
b.Present and introduce the project on stage
● Introduce the basic function of the project
● What improvements have you made? And why do you do that?
● What’s the highlight of your project?
Evaluation (5min)
Assess students’ works according to the Evaluation Criteria(see appendix) and select the best one.
Clean up (5min)
● Dismantle the BOSON module on the project
● Put all modules back to the BOSON box.
● Put Inventor Kit and Tools to the specified place.
● Put away all Lego bricks and put the Lego box to the specified place.
● Clean up the litters on the table and ground.
Rethink (5min)
● Why can the cheering robot talk and do actions simultaneously when it detected the presence of people.
● Try designing an energy-saving lighting system for your home. What factors do you need to consider?
Note
Here are some factors that should be taken into account when designing this workshop, and teachers can adjust, add or cancel some unimportant parts of the process as actual conditions.
● Age: adjust the requirement of skill and knowledge according to students’ age and cognitive ability.
● Time: 50 minutes or more.
● Number of Students: control the number of students and choose to carry out a project in the form of individuals or groups as the actual scene.
Appendix
Material in daily life: single-use cup, colored paper, etc.
Evaluation Criteria: teachers can observe students in the whole process to evaluate their performance.