MAKER: Kelsey Derringer
TIME: 3 hours
SUPPLIES:
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)
CONSTRAINTS: (limits on the project)
*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!
Step 1: Blast your favorite holiday song playlist. Here's my fav playlist this holiday season. ;) It's called YULE ROCK!
Step 2: Plan your project. Drawing the design and labeling the parts, especially the LEDs, motors, and sensors, and planning what will happen in the project are really helpful, no matter your age or building skill.
Step 3: Gather your materials. I used:
Step 4: Build the thing! Put your crafty pants on, girl! You're limited only by your imagination.
Step 5: Attach the Hummingbird Components. Here's how I attached the motors:
Here's how I attached the tri-LED:
Step 6: Hide your wires and attach the components to the Hummingbird board.
Step 7: Program your robot. I used Makecode to program Hermey. (Note: Sometimes, you accidentally create a Steve Buscemi elf on your first try and you laugh so hard you get a cramp in your cheek muscles. Sometimes...)
Step 8: Enjoy the fruits of your labors! Take selfies! Share with friends! Tweet out a picture - and tag me and Birdbrain and Aaron!
Me: @KelseyConnects
Birdbrain: @birdbraintech
Aaron: @coffeechugbooks
#hummingbirdkit
#highfiverobot
#Hermeydoesntliketomaketoys
#HermeylikestomakeROBOTS
Check out this awesome high-five robot made by Cate Reynolds, a computer science teacher and librarian in New York. She made a high-fiveable Charlotte from the Doll-E children's book, and programmed it using Scratch. How cool is Cate?! (Follow her on Twitter @cate_reynolds_.)
Check out my very first attempt at a high-fiveable robot. This is Mike Wazowski, from Monsters Inc. He's got 3 single LEDs, 2 tri-LEDs, 1 positional servo, and a distance sensor. I made him as an example for a 90 minute workshop I did with about 30 teachers and 20 students TOGETHER in 1 library at TRETC in November.
What will YOU make with a Hummingbird robotics kit? What will YOUR project be? How will YOU engage those historically underserved populations with creative robotics?
Check out birdbraintechnologies.com for more info on the Hummingbird Robotics Kit:
Thanks for visiting!
Click the hyperlink below to see the video!