Lesson 13:
Object Manipulation

1. Use the robot arm to control switches in the virtual environment

2. Use the robot arm to move objects in the virtual environment

3. Control the robotic arm using code

1. Use the robot arm to control switches in the virtual environment

Check for mission success in ‘Hand Up!’. ‘Switch Spiraling’ and ‘Encoding Around the Corner’ may be used as alternate assessments.

2. Use the robot arm to move objects in the virtual environment

Check for mission success in ‘Grab & Drag’.

3. Control the robotic arm using code

Check for mission success in ‘Switch Spiraling’, ‘Grab & Drag’, or ‘Hand Up!’.

Slideshow: ​Object Manipulation

1. Why does the ‘Move Arm’ block have a parameter to make it go up or down, rather than moving it up if it’s down and down if it’s up?

Student answers may vary. This question may be a good start for a class discussion. Some sample responses may be that it allows the coder to ‘reset’ the arm at the beginning of the code, when they may not know whether the arm is up or down; that it increases the readability of the code by making it clear what the purpose of the block is; or that it makes it easier for the robot to recover from errors in which the arm may have been switched to the wrong position.

2. Think of two limitations of the robotic arm. What objects would it not be able to move because of that limitation?

Student answers will vary. Limitations may include that the robotic arm can only move up and down, so it cannot flip switches that are left-right; the arm is limited in its reach, so cannot manipulate anything taller than the robot; the arm has a limited size, so it cannot grab large objects.

3. What’s another type of attachment that would allow the robot to change its environment and how would you use it?

Student answers will vary. Answers should include a way to manipulate the environment in some way. Examples may include shovel-like attachments, drills, magnets, ‘grabbers’, or plow heads that could clear obstacles from the robot’s path.

• You can control the arm using the manual control by pressing the < and > keys, or use the virtual controls (show this to your students).

Q1. What can we use the arm for?

A1. We can use the arm to interact with objects such as boxes and switches.

Q2. How do we control the arm?

A2. To control the arm we set a degree for the motor to rotate to using the rotateTo block.