In preparation for the inter-school robot race, we are creating interactive arena features at Bishopstone. For the purposes of automatic activation, we are building pressure pads with sufficient sensitivity that robot wheels can trigger them!
The inter-school Robot Racing challenge is hotting up! With both Bishopstone and St Mary’s Primary schools fielding teams of robots that increasingly move in the right direction – the moment is fast approaching for Race Day! For updates on team progress, please see www.flickernet.net/rrc
To liven up the arena, we have been developing claw-bots that will chomp at unsuspecting robots as they pass!
Keith and I are working on a new project for shared computer control and coding. We will be creating a 3D environment in which the controller and the nature of what is controlled, will be open for pairs of pupils to develop together. We are calling it Rainbow Rebellion. More details to follow soon!
For an interactive demo, please click here!
Thank you to all of those who attended the first ever Bloviators debate. It was a great chance to test out the format and to explore what debating looks like when it has to be spontaneous! Of the three motions that were on offer, the motion that was voted for by those in attendance was that human beings present too much of a danger for alien life to risk making contact with us. Jamie and Miles successfully opposed the motion, pointing out how much we have to offer the wider universe!
Going forwards we will tweak the format further and take it to some local educational establishments. It is hoped that Bloviators can return to the Cirencester Baptist Church in June.
Randomizing the teams through a spinner / Fisher Price button kept us all on our toes!
Another name for Minecraft is BashBash – or at least in our house anyway! We first played it on a Raspberry Pi 3b – a rather simplified version, but nonetheless fun. Given the need that I find to demonstrate to pupils what a huge range of inputs are possible (cue tin foil, pressure pads, capacitive touch experiments etc) – there developed a good excuse to build a box with many connections.
Rather than have a light toggle or a buzzer sound when a connection is made – what if those input triggers meant that a Minecraft world was moved through, built and bashed? More to follow!
If, like me, you were a fan of the Tomy robot collection from the 1980s, then you may also recall the tantalising sensation born out of an awareness of what those robots were unable to do, which was almost as invigorating as what they could do.
Take Chatbot: it was equipped with a mechanical voice recorder that was primed by pulling a large level down whilst speaking a message, then triggered by remote control. Hours of fun ensued driving it around with occasional spoken messages being relayed.
Chatbot was not without limitation, however. It could not engage in further conversation – or be instructed to move – or check on the road conditions outside.
Now that it is 2024, Chatbot could – and over the coming weeks I hope to reveal one way of achieving an upgrade to this venerable robot!
Was reminded today that the Micro:Bit / Kodu link remains a simple but effective means of providing readily coded inputs and outputs: engaging interfaces that bring virtual worlds to life. Next week we will add the pressure pads via Makey Makey – leading to pupils building their own controllers.
BETT 24 was every bit as exciting as the ’23 gathering. Table Talks are a new initiative: the chance to share ideas with fellow educators – in our case from many European countries and as far as Angola.
My favourite corner remains the STEM zone. It was good to catch up with Ricky from DFRobot; Kevin from Kitronik, Magda from Micro:Bit and Steinar from MakeIT.
Keep an eye on the upcoming Flickernet Roadshow to see some of their new products in action!
Just one month to go until the first Bloviator debate! Free and open to all – if you enjoy debating but haven’t had much of an opportunity to construct a well-reasoned argument in front of a Chairperson for some time – then please consider joining us on the 23rd February. Full details here: www.flickernet.net/debate
Now that we have got our robots avoiding obstacles – will they be able to escape ClawBot?! Follow the latest Bishopstone RRC developments at www.flickernet.net/bishy
Swindon Borough Council – custodians of the Magic Roundabout – have kindly agreed to my request to site a particulate sensor on traffic lights in town. It is hoped that the busy toad will provide a new data stream to add to the mountain air / classroom feeds that are already in place.
All being well, the fumes produced by passing traffic will show pm 2.5 readings that can be viewed in realtime to provide a direct comparison to those found in a pupil’s own classroom and that found within ancient woodland in Northern Ireland. Zjeremy the robot brings the sensor into classrooms – see www.flickernet.net/data or www.flickernet.net/pm25
A preliminary visit to the site has revealed open WiFi access from the nearby Co-Op which could help!
