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Course: Intro to Computer thinking with Cubelets (4-6)
8 - Challenge: Driving on the Edge

  • 4-6 grade
  • Elementary

Lesson Description:

Cubelets offer a great platform for presenting challenges and engaging students of many ages and levels of expertise to creatively answer a range of challenges that include robotics, reasoning, and design. These challenges are intermediate and advanced challenges that will work best for students who have previous experience with Cubelets.

Objective: Students will use critical thinking skills to build a specific robot based on a description.


 

Standards Covered

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Lesson Modules


Teaching Tips:

Special note: Possible solutions to these challenges are pictured but there are many solutions to every challenge. These pictures aren’t meant to limit you­ - just to get you started!

This activity plan includes 2 parts, 20­-30 minutes each:

  1. Intermediate challenges. In these challenges students must carefully consider what their robots need to know in order to satisfy the challenges
  2. Capstone challenges ‐ these advanced challenges combine previous challenge elements. Where your class, camp, or club has less than 60 minutes, we suggest using parts as single activities.


Which are some of the senses that you have discovered from the Cubelets in the past lessons?

Which are some of the actions that you have discovered from the Cubelets in the past lessons?


Teaching Tips:

Materials: Students can use the KT01 kit in groups of 1­4 students per kit
 

Can you make a robot that can follow a wall?



  • Why would a robot need to be able to do this?
  • What action(s) will you need to include?
  • What sense(s) will work best?
  • Is a Think Block necessary?
  • If you choose to use a Think Cubelet, what are the advantages and disadvantages?
  • If you choose not to use a Think Cubelet, what are the advantages and disadvantages? 
  • In what circumstances will this robot work best? 




Now that you’ve made a robot that can follow a wall, can you expand on it and make a robot that can navigate a simple maze? Construct a maze with no dead‐end loops using boxes, cardboard or other items nearby.


Consider what this robot will need to sense and know in order to find a way through this maze. Sometimes it’s helpful to think about how you would find your way out of a room if you were in the dark.
  • Hint 1: If you were in a room you didn’t know well and couldn’t see, what would you do? (walk slowly forward, hands out)
  • Hint 2: What would you use instead of sight to find your way out? (Stick your hands out!)
  • Hint 3: What would you try to find, even without your sight (A wall)
  • Hint 4: If your hands found something, what would you do? (Keep your hand on it!)
  • Hint 5: This robot doesn’t have hands ‐ what else can help the robot “find” walls to navigate?
Once you’ve made a maze­solving robot, test it, evaluate its success, and see if you can improve on it.

Discuss with your group, and write down your answers:


Can you make a robot that can follow a wall?

  • Why would a robot need to be able to do this?
  • What action(s) will you need to include?
  • What sense(s) will work best?
  • Is a Think Block necessary?
  • If you choose to use a Think Cubelet, what are the advantages and disadvantages?
  • If you choose not to use a Think Cubelet, what are the advantages and disadvantages? 
  • In what circumstances will this robot work best?


Now that you’ve made a robot that can follow a wall,

can you expand on it and make a robot that can navigate a simple maze?

Construct a maze with no dead‐end loops using boxes, cardboard or other items nearby.

Consider what this robot will need to sense and know in order to find a way through this maze.

Sometimes it’s helpful to think about how you would find your way out of a room if you were in the dark.

  • Hint 1: If you were in a room you didn’t know well and couldn’t see, what would you do? 
  • Hint 2: What would you use instead of sight to find your way out? 
  • Hint 3: What would you try to find, even without your sight 
  • Hint 4: If your hands found something, what would you do? 
  • Hint 5: This robot doesn’t have hands ‐ what else can help the robot “find” walls to navigate?   

Once you’ve made a maze­solving robot, test it, evaluate its success, and see if you can improve on it.


Teaching Tips:

Materials: Students can use the KT01 kit in groups of 1­4 students per kit
 

With the wall‐following robot in mind, now make a robot that senses the edge of a table and stops before it plummets to the ground. For this edge‐sensing robot, try it without a Think Cubelet.

  • What does this robot need to sense to know where the edge of the table is? What action is needed?
  • Think about how orientation of the sensor and action faces and the specific physical configuration (order and weight) of the Cubelets will affect this robot.


  • Hint 1: This can be done with just three Cubelets!
  • Hint 2: It may matter if you have the Distance sensor facing down and the sensor circles oriented vertically in line with the robot (rather than horizontally) so that one circle heads out over the edge before another. What does this mean about how the distance sensor works?

 
Once you design your edge­sensing robot, test it, and improve and re­design if need be.
 
This edge‐sensor will have some failure cases where it either won’t drive at all, or will but will not sense the edge of the table and fall off. What are those cases?
 

This is the Minimum Think Cubelet ‐ it will listen to multiple senses and choose to send only the lowest value to an Action Cubelet. Can you improve your edge sensor using the Minimum, a Battery, 2 senses, and a Drive Action? You may need other Cubelets too, but at a minimum, you will need those.
 


  • Hint 1: What sense did you use to see the table and the edge of the table in your last edge‐sensing robot? What direction should that sense face? What should it “look at?”
  • Hint 2: What other sense could you use?
  • Hint 3: How can you attach 2 senses to the Minimum Cubelet and still have it between those senses and the Drive Action?
  • Hint 4: If the Minimum Cubelet is listening for a low number how can you give it a lower value than the sense you’re using to “see” the table?
  • Hint 5: It might help if the Minimum cubelet was “listening to” one sense as the lowest value and then another sense becomes the lowest value as this robot “sees” the edge.
  • Hint 6: You may need to account for weight and stability.


Once you’ve made an edge­-sensor robot, test it, evaluate its success, and see if you can improve on it! 
Did you get it to work? Good job, this is a very challenging robot to make and understand!

 

With the wall‐following robot in mind, now make a robot that senses the edge of a table and stops before it plummets to the ground.

For this edge‐sensing robot, try it without a Think Cubelet.

  • What does this robot need to sense to know where the edge of the table is?
  • What action is needed?
  • How will both orientation of the sensor and action faces and the specific physical configuration of the Cubelets affect this robot?


Hint 1: This can be done with three Cubelets only!

Hint 2: It may matter not only to have the Distance sensor facing down but to have the sensor circles oriented vertically in line with the robot (rather than horizontally) so that one circle heads out over the edge before another.


Once you design your edge­-sensing robot, test it, and improve and re­design if need be.
 
This edge‐sensor will have some failure cases where it either won’t drive at all or will but will not sense the edge of the table and will fall off. What are those cases?
 

This is the Minimum Think Cubelet ‐ it will listen to multiple senses and choose to send only the lowest value to an Action Cubelet.

Can you improve your edge sensor using the Minimum, a Battery, 2 senses, and a Drive Action? You may need other Cubelets too, but you will need those.


  • What sense did you use to see the table and the edge of the table in your last edge‐sensing robot?
  • What direction should that sense face? What should it “look at?”
  • What other sense could you use?
  • How can you attach 2 senses to the Minimum Cubelet and still have it between those senses and the Drive Action?
  • If the Minimum Cubelet is listening for a low number, how can you give it a lower value than the sense you’re using to “see” the table?
  • It might help if the Minimum cubelet was “listening to” one sense as the lowest value and then another sense becomes the lowest value as this robot “sees” the edge.
  • You may need to account for weight and stability.

Once you’ve made an edge­-sensor robot, test it, evaluate its success, and see if you can improve on it!

 
Did you get it to work? Good job, this is a very challenging robot to make and understand!




Teaching Tips:


Draw your favorite robot in today's class, indicate its parts and its functions. Do not forget to share with your classmates after!