Oct 2nd | Anagha Deepak
Robotics
Robots… We see them everywhere. They are the machines, we humans in this age depend on immensely. Robots are more than just machines like toasters,TV's & coffee makers that perform simple tasks. We are using Robotics in our day to day lives, to such a great extent that we can't even realize how it would be without them. From a floor sweeping Roomba to health monitors at hospitals, from safety sensors in our cars to ordering a coffee at a Starbuck kiosk, from our iPAD'S to computers, it’s all about Robotics & programming.
It’s in every field of work that we could imagine. So why not learn the ABC's of Robotics when we are depending so much on it?
I have been learning about Robotics because I am passionate about it and I am curious to know and learn new things. I was introduced to Robotics & WeDo while in 2nd grade and this is how I can pass on what I have learnt to you.
What is a Robot?
Robots are mostly man-made machines that carry out a set of tasks. In other words they are machines that can be programmed to perform simple-to-difficult, often repetitive tasks. But how exactly do they work? How do you build your own robots?
Guess who builds these Robots? It's us humans who design, build and tell them what actions to do. Think of the Crane and Elevator, we are building and programming them to lift the bricks to build our new city. To perform required actions, robots have sensors and motors, so that way they can sense: touch, sound and even light. Motors can be programmed to Start, Stop, and move the crane up and down.
Programming:
I am sure all of you in our team have at least one parent, a big brother/sister, or a friend who is a pro & can teach you programming at home…if you get a chance don't let them go, learn it:)…It’s fun!
Let’s talk about programming in general. Can you believe the laptop, iPAD, or the computer we use everyday to find us answers about difficult math problems is not very smart!
Its incredibly powerful and kind of amazing that they exist and that they can do all this stuff, but it doesn't know how to do anything AT ALL by itself!! Nothing… !!
It needs us human beings to write instructions for it to do certain things; to crunch some numbers, to draw certain colors to the screen…everything has to be written as instructions for the computer.
This is really what it means to program, to write those instructions in a very specific way that we humans can understand and finally convert that set of instructions to something that a programmable machine can understand.
These sets of instructions to perform a specific task is called an Algorithm. Putting these Algorithms into action for both humans and machines to understand and to perform that specific task is called Programming.
We are all Programmers now! Yay!! Remember, we programmed the crane to move the crate down by 5 steps and then move up by 5 steps to get the bricks to the top floor of the new house you built. All these steps above are referred to as Algorithms. When we put these tasks in the above specific order in our WeDo application, we indeed programmed our crane.
It’s a good thing that you all have a very kid-friendly programming set from FLL Jr, WeDo. It is introducing us how to program with the help of coaches/mentors while helping you in your next steps towards learning programming & coding.
Why do you want to learn Robotics and role of parents in our club:
Now that we have been working on in our club for a few sessions, I am sure you have noticed what goes into it. It’s not just an hour of meetings. We research, we learn ,we work together as a team and make new friends. We are not just building a robot, which we can build as per the challenge guidelines.
We are learning a lot of new things here. I am learning a lot too in this process of mentoring and I come prepared for it! These blogs which I write is not a requirement for the club, nor for the final expo, rather it is my goal to share my ideas with you all so that each child can think about the project they are doing more deeply, and in a more serious tone, not as just as an extracurricular activity which they attend.
Moving forward we will have to spend more time on this project, there is a lot of things to be completed which needs serious focus & attention. Remember, the city we are building has a lot of planning & the challenge itself has 3 difficult tasks to complete. Although it’s an expo we are going to attend the judges ask all types of questions & to everyone in the team. As we are a returning team, they expect us to be well prepared in all aspects.
All kids are different. My mom started my Destination Imagination team when I was in Kindergarten & continued for 6 more wonderful years. She also started my brother Anirudh's team in Kindergarten with Satvik's mom. Although the kids had a great time going to the DI tournament & presenting it... the amount of work put to stabilize the team was too daunting. At this age the kids need to be reminded of their tasks & need help from the parents at home...,if not, it just gets to a point where the child looses his or her interest in the activity going forward. At the same time the seriousness that we put into prepping for each sessions feels being played down when they come unprepared for the meetings. We realized that truly successful work, however comes when all the kids are interested and are committed to this activity. Teams function at their prime when all the members understand that they are here because they were driven by their passion, and want to seriously take the notion forward. With that, we can commit ourselves to do it.
Starting and managing a team is indeed a stressful job and it’s not fun to do an activity if it does not interest a child. Now is the time to decide if we all can sit and discuss; is being in this club necessary or not. Because as I said, we all are so passionate and have put our heart and soul into it.
We want the kids in our team to do smart choices & learn good things through this FLL adventure. The one thing we want from parents is to discuss all the ideas, read out the blog loud and open up their minds. We want active participation from each & every one of the team members and don't want them to feel left out. Please decide now, as this is not the only year one can participate. If you decide to be part of our team next time we will definitely consider you, as we know you better than others.