Day 2: Finishing our robot builds, starting programming, and more Minecraft

We started the day by finishing our basic robot builds.  We then learned how to access the Carnegie Mellon ev3 curriculum.  We reviewed some of the big ideas of robotics including the idea that programming is precise.  We also talked about taking a big problem or challenge and breaking it down into smaller problems (steps) in order to solve them.  Several students installed the Lego Robotics Commander software on their handheld devices and tried to see if they could control the robot as precisely as the programs they had created.  Wasn't even close....a program is precise and never tires.

By the end of today all robots were built and several teams began completing their mini challenges and one group completed big challenge #1, the Sensabot.

Here are few videos of mini challenge 1 and mini challenge 2

Robotics Kings (Lily, Bentley, Ava) program their robot to drive exactly 50cm and then return to the exact starting location.  Well done!

Boss Brainiacs (Will, Jai, and Nate) program their robot to complete the cargo retrieval.

Both of the mini challenges give the students programming skills they will need for later challenges.

After completing our robotics work for the day we headed to the lab for more Minecraft.  My able assistant Ben had configured one of our servers to run a strategy/survival game called the Walls.  In this challenge students work in teams with a limited amount of time to fortify their area in order to survive once the walls in the game are lowered.  This challenge requires a fair amount of Minecraft knowledge and the ability to work together in teams.  The green team won the challenge with Hunter being the winner of the game.

Tomorrow we will try to run our Minecraft sessions in smaller groups in order to ensure the best gaming experience for all.