Planning for the Library Outreach
Objectives
- Work in your teams on your library plans
Tools and Parts Needed
- NXT brick with charged battery pack and desired sensors
- RCX for the Zombie Clone attack and other labs as desired
As you know, on Tuesday, December, 3rd from 3:30-4:30 and Saturday, December 7th from 1:30-2:30 we will be taking robots to Berea's Public Library. Remember that the children are typically younger than teenage, so the best focus is interactive. This lab is designed to get you to plan and to work to finalize at least one demo you will use for these children. We will be taking both the RCX and the NXT robotic platforms, so you should have multiple programs for each platform. You are welcome to do new builds, but this should be discussed with the instructor and done with an unbuilt brick.
- Planning: With your entire group of two teams, to discuss planning for the outreach, discussing the full set of robots and programs you would like to take to the library.
- Membership: Plan which of your team members will attend the outreach on Tuesday, December, 3rd from 3:30-4:30 and which will attend on Saturday, December 7th from 1:30-2:30. (You should have 2 at each.)
- Team Naming: Give yourselves a fun team name. Using the text tool, be sure that your team name and all team-member's names are included in every RoboLab program and on all lab reports.
- Organizing: Make a two new folders for this demo. Name one folder yourteamname-RCX, and name the other folder yourteamname-NXT.
- Programming:
Then in your big group, finalize at least two programs you wish to
use or to modify for use at the library. You should eventually
have a total of seven or more programs and should have some
programs for each robotic platform. Remember that we will use
the Zombie Clone Attack on the RCXs, so that will be one of your
RCX programs, but you still want to discuss the different versions
which were written by different teammates.
- Sharing: Be sure to load and test all these programs, sharing this code with all team members.
- Explaining:
Because this demo is for younger children, part of what you will
be doing is explaining how the interaction works. Have the demo
partners try explaining the code to the non-demo partners.
Your Lab Report
All lab reports should be self-contained and should contain all of the following information at the top:- The lab number: Lab L18
- The names of all team member present for this lab.
For the report, your team should discuss the answers to each of these questions. Using correct spelling and good grammar, this lab should then address the following questions:
- Planning: Drawing from the reading we have done in assignments, discuss the decisions your team made on the full set of robots and programs you would like to take to the library.
- Membership: List by name which of your team members will attend the outreach on Tuesday, December, 3rd from 3:30-4:30 and which will attend on Saturday, December 7th from 1:30-2:30. (You should have 2 at each.)
- Team Naming: Why did you choose the team name you
did?
- Programming:
Discuss the progress you have made on building and programming the
robots.
- Explaining:
Because this demo is for younger children, part of what you will
be doing is explaining how the interaction works. Describe how
explaining code to the non-demo partners went.
- Your Expectations: Given the explanations you made with your team mates, what challenges do you anticipate in explaining the interactions to children? Explain.
- Comments and Suggestions: Write a paragraph that summarizes your team's reaction to this lab. Be sure to include any suggestions you have for how this lab could be improved.