Robotics is for everyone, not just people with PhDs. Robotics can be fun, simple, and even cute!

1. By making robotics creative, we can (and we must!) make robotics engaging and accessible to a wider variety of students, including those historically less engaged groups: girls, students of color, rural students, poor students, and students with learning exceptionalities.

2. By using familiar craft supplies, we can also make robotics more tinkerable: Cardboard is cheap (hello Amazon boxes!), and you can always find recyclable materials to craft with.

3. By designing learning experiences around projects that have simple criteria and constraints, we can make the possibilities for student projects infinite!

CRITERIA: (things the project must do)

• Must include: at least 1 LED, motor, and sensor
• Must respond when the sensor is tripped
• The sensor should be in the hand
• Holiday themed!
• Had to be engaging enough to prompt people to interact with it without me telling them what to do

CONSTRAINTS: (limits on the project)

• Materials: I could only use what we had in our office makerspace
• Couldn't be too big, bulky, or flimsy: it had to fit in my car to go home with me, and be sturdy enough to survive being transported

*See more examples below for how other high five robots with similar criteria/constraints have turned out!*

Defining Criteria and Constraints for student projects is a great way to boost student creativity! Let them know what they must do and what they can't do (they can help to define these parameters, too) and set them loose. You will be amazed by what your students create!