Robotics

Resources / Robotics

Dublin Airport Security meets SafariBot!

What a journey!

SafariBot has the look of something that airport security might well be expected to raise an eybrow about.

Yet on the way over to Mourne, those manning security at Heathrow were calm and intrigued – albeit SafariBot had a cracked sensor deck on account of my trying to squeeze the robot into a rucksac.

The same rucksac was packed with the best of Irish food for the return leg. 

 

Dublin Airport’s security team were rather less calm. It didn’t help that I was running late for the flight. The dense mass of organic food: 2.5kg of butter in rectangular blocks and a further 1kg bag of good Irish spuds must have made for an interesting x-ray. The rucksac was duly given the “shunt of shame” along the special carousel!

I watched as the robot appeared next. A crowd of three scrutinised it before it was carefully loaded onto a very special trolley. Both items made their way towards me pushed by steely-eyed guards. The questions started: what? why? what? And then I caught sight of my hands – covered in blood! Yes, for some unknown reason my hands had chosen that moment to leak blood all over the place.

It actually had a humanising effect on the guards – who rushed off to find plasters. Once all was resolved I grabbed my shoes and belt and rushed through the duty free corridor – before kneeling down beside the bulging bag and curious robot to tie my shoe laces. The look that I got from some alarmed passers -by was one of mild horror and shock! Safaribot travelled back under the seat.

 

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October 14, 2026
Robotics

SafariBot

SafariBot was only meant to demonstrate what it could look like to explore woodland remotely.

I have built this robot for Autism Support Kilkeel to experience Woodland Coding for the upcoming Meet & Code event in Mourne Park.

This will be our fourth year of offering a form of Woodland Coding. This year we will also be joined by Matthew from Aperture NI and his amazing drones!

SafariBot has taken on a bit of a life of its own though! – please see the link for more info..

 

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October 5, 2026
Marvellous Musical Machine / Robotics / Tech To Help (TTH)

Marvellous Musical Machine 3 Concludes

Working with the children of The Ridgeway School ASC has been a joy and a privilege. 

Thank you Will, Adam, Ryan and all the team at the ASC. Keith and I have enjoyed every moment of it – and we think that your pupils have too!

Please see www.flickernet.net/mmm3 to explore their work or, better yet, come along to future MMM events to have a go with the latest machine that we created together.

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July 22, 2026
Robotics / Tech To Help (TTH)

Expression

As  I gradually add to the Sessions, the third, called “Expression”, is one that I am most eager to develop.

This is the chance for anxious or disheartened young people to find a way to share what they are feeling through robotics.

The page will slowly grow – please feel free to email me any thoughts or ideas: it will be a vital part of the RaceHub project.

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June 2, 2026
Resources / Robotics

Robot Arrivals

Excited to begin testing of the new Freenove Raspberry Pi robots.

 

Although they will need extra functionality added to become RaceHub robots (such as RGB lighting strips / dot matrix diplays) – the signs are that their manoeuvrability is similar to the Micro:Bit powered units – which makes them thoroughly race ready!

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May 11, 2026
Robotics / Tech To Help (TTH)

Session 5 Trial 2

The RaceHub Sessions are taking shape, not necessarily in order! Enjoyed exploring Session 5 with the KS3 SoS group today.

They had so much fun, but in the process were also super-helpful at showing me potential road-blocks in the planning – which I am racing to fine tune now!

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April 24, 2026
InFindingOut (IFO) / Robotics / Space To Learn / Tech To Help (TTH)

Robotics reimagined

RaceHub is the new robotics project that I have been working on for some time now. It is a sister project to Robotics Link. Together they will form the RaceNode Network.

RaceHub will come first: individual young people being provided with a robot to build, and to keep, with which they can join in to a supportive network and even enter into robot racing competitions.

If they do not feel ready to race their robot in person then they can compete remotely. Their robot also becomes an individual expression of their wellbeing or race readiness..  

 
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March 30, 2026
InFindingOut (IFO) / Robotics

SoS Robotics

The Year 11 SoS pupils have taught me so much over the last three terms – in particular they have reminded me that all learning starts with engagement. 

It seems clear to me that when a young person is engaged with what you are offering them,  then are they ready to learn. 

Robotics and project-based learning feels like a natural fit – these children respond to robotics and their engagement inspires me.

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February 20, 2026
Robotics

Robot Reporting

Partly as a practice race for the upcoming Robotics Link project, but mainly so that pupils could have an event to film for their Video Editing Computing unit (and also for fun!) – we held a robot race today.

Pre and post-race interviews were filmed from multiple camera angles so that they can be cut with action footage of the race action. 

It was encouraging to see how fascinating the robots were for these children – a great way to inspire hands-on programming skills. 

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February 9, 2026
Robotics / Space To Learn

Outdoor Robot Track cleared

The Transmission Zone is a general purpose broadcast area for remotely monitored experiments that need a bit more space. 

Central to the space is a young oak tree that is awaiting having a squirrel feeder attached to it. This will be provided by John Francis, who manages the red squirrel population in Mourne Park.

In front of this is taking shape an area for the outdoor robot system, which is currently under development in association with Kevin from Kitronik. More details soon.

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August 12, 2024
Robotics / RRC / tech_ventures

Robot Claw Clash

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!

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March 13, 2024
ARC / Digital Writes / Resources / Robotics / RRC / Tech To Help (TTH)

Robot Racing Club

Delighted to announce the start of RRC -with the ever-wonderful St Mary’s Primary School! We are currently exploring which kit works best, and hoping to develop this new club in support of neurodivergent pupils soon. Thank you to Colm and the team for providing every opportunity to explore new technologies with his wonderful class – from Unity-built gaming to the upcoming WatchBox – these pupils are pioneers!

www.flickernet.net/rrc

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November 27, 2023
ARC / Robotics / tech_ventures

PA Consulting Competition update

All three of the ARC entries are gathering momentum. There is just one month left before the closing date of this year’s competition – which equates to four hours for us! Although only one entry (The Thermal Imaging project) could actually be described as a “robot”, it has been wonderful to see each team applying their coding, construction, and debugging skills in earnest.

https://www.flickernet.net/arc2
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February 13, 2023
ARC / Robotics / tech_ventures

Robo Race

Christmas fun at ARC when we set our Kitronik Move Motor robots to race each other along a winding track around the classroom! Some pupils kept it simple – follow the line – others included their ultrasonics and yet others played Christmas carols en route! With a large chocolate first prize and spot prizes for best dressed robot – there was every incentive to fine tune the active code!

https://www.flickernet.net/arc2
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December 8, 2022
ARC / Resources / Robotics

Robo BCS launch

Thank you to Stuart and the team at BCS for a most interesting day exploring the new BCS Level 1 qualification at BCS HQ. The twelve of us present were taken through the materials and provided with ample time to explore what delivery of this new certification will look like.

As LPA are one of the first schools to offer this (through the STEM Enthuse Partnership) I will be sharing here what the experience of being a certified testing centre is like – and how well our pupils do in tackling the qualification.

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December 8, 2022
ARC / Robotics / tech_ventures

Zjeremy looks askance

the ARC demo robot has three functioning brains, two (Pi) on WiFi and one on Bluetooth but has not yet rumbled out of the door.. Sensor readings are rather erratic and the head-mounted servo obeys no known code. On the plus side Motors coping with the combined weight and Meccano providing a strong exoskeleton. Also the camera works!

More details here:

Zjeremy
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January 16, 2022
Robotics / tech_ventures

Robot Update

After a little father and son time, the latest iteration of the Garage Robot is born! Upon being shared as the designated show-and-tell item, the spinning motor jams on, resulting in a scene of suitable chaos in the classroom with the robot determinedly making the most of its chance to take a turn at the front!

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December 1, 2019
Robotics / tech_ventures

Mars robot

 

‘Exploration’ of the playground beamed into the classroom via Skype

The weather on Mars in real-time

 

Space as a natural fit for tech ventures

 

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August 12, 2018
Background_history / Robotics / tech_ventures

Robot Reboot

This is Prince Hal. Originally a Christmas Present (c1989) he was infra red controlled with the ability to follow a sequence of instructions sent to him from a television-remote style controller. Then, for no apparent reason, he ceased working . I gutted him and replaced the circuitry with that from a radio controlled car and a walkie talkie headset unit. Also a radio doorbell.

The walkie talkie sound output to his chest speaker and the radio controlled car circuit ran to his motors and head LEDs. Various other connections  were made which allowed for connecting a charger and pressure pad (for the doorbell as a proximity alarm).

The happy accident is that the voice activated microphone now triggered the wheels and the headlights. When put in front of a speaker the robot danced with delight and flashed his eyes. I added a mercury tilt switch and sometime later a mobile radio detecting LED, all of which made for a fun early experiment!

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June 19, 2018

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