What is educational robotics today?

Briefly about yourself:

I am not an expert in the field of pedagogy and education, I treat children as purely individuals at the beginning of my life’s journey, and not as “flowers of life” and I aim to interest them and pass on their experience to them. I have been working in robotics for several years and have a genuine interest in this field.

There are more and more circles of robotics in Russia, but few of the parents understand what exactly this area represents. Most are skeptical of him, believing that everything is tied to the usual LEGO, in which you can play at home, or they believe that this is a thing cut off from life, to which you can send a child for the sake of his entertainment and recreation. On the other hand, some consider this occupation a lot of geniuses or nerds. Well, or that it can make a genius of their child.



In fact, educational robotics is neither an abstruse subject, nor a profession of the future, nor carefree entertainment. And it is the basis for a serious study of applied technical skills necessary for the future technician now.

Of course, this activity is not for everyone - many children are not eager to learn the "boring" theory instead of, conditionally, frolic in the sports section. However, those who like to create something with their own hands all the time are interested in computer technology or simply show interest in any technology, educational robotics is able to teach many skills, for example:

• Self design designs
• Understanding of how different mechanisms work
• Computer Basics
• Principles of programming
• Process optimization and the search for alternative solutions
• The use of English (standard in the technical field)
• Understanding "what is math for"
• The interaction of the software part with the design
• Work in a team and general socialization

Of course, all this is subject to sufficient equipment of an individual circle, teacher’s professional training and a lively interest on his part, as well as some other individual factors.



The most important thing is that you should not aim at specific results, such as winning prizes at various robotics competitions. They are needed primarily for socialization, the creation of interest in the industry and the spirit of competition. This is the case when in every sense participation is more important than victory. Here, robotics is closer to the art school with its exhibitions, where the main thing is to look at others and show yourself.

As a result of the training, one can consider a gradual increase in the complexity of the projects created (both in the circle and at home), but everything is individual here.

Let us turn to the most frequently asked questions:

What do we do on robotics?

We build robots, of course! Interesting and different. From LEGO. We study what sensors are, gears, tracks, what it is for and how to use it. We reproduce some devices from the “adult world”, such as a parctronic or security system, and we also build all sorts of tracked all-terrain vehicles.



For all this, we often have to use mathematics and banal intuition. And logical thinking is our whole thing.

Why "LEGO"?

LEGO Mindstorms EV3 educational kits are the international standard for educational robotics, since no other kit has this level of standardization, ease of use and depth of development. Launched in 2013, the third generation of the educational robotics kit from LEGO, EV3 (popularly “Eva”) has a truly immense breadth of possibilities embedded in software and hardware, and compatibility with any other LEGO sets, even 40 years ago, gives obvious the ability to use any parts for the construction of structures. By the way, LEGO sets have elegantly implemented mechanical components (differentials, elements of various types of gears, suspension elements, etc.) and even intelligible pneumatics. No other set has anything similar at the same level of implementation. There is still fischertechnik but it is relatively rare for me to meet, and the price is the same.



There are two reasons for skepticism towards LEGO:

1. Superficial familiarity with this set. Many teachers from the circles of robotics (even universities!) Sin because they do not know what they work on. Being not very familiar with the basics of designing mechanisms and programming, they are not able to evaluate all the capabilities of the tool, and even more so to use them for educational purposes.

2. High nose with adherents of the "old school". This is about those who say that those who are engaged in LEGO are not aware of any transistor-resistors, and in general we are doing everything from ready-made blocks and are programming the same blocks. All they say is true. We do not know. Only robotics is not about electronics and soldering, but about solving practical problems and automation. There is also a variation with “cool programmers” who are immediately involved in programming microcontrollers and blinking LEDs, completely forgetting about the mechanical part.

In reality, LEGO Mindstorms has only 2 significant drawbacks:

• Low stiffness of large structures
• Large size and weight of the main module and motors (there are no miniature servos in the set)

But for the educational process it is rarely a hindrance.

What age is suitable for robotics?

About 6-7 and up to 67 years :)

In fact, everything is very individual. At the age of 5-6 years, most children still remain in the “game - the basis of learning” phase. At this age, the main thing is to acquire the skill of creation, that is, to learn how to assemble from the designer independently, without instructions and prompts, according to your own understanding. From about 5.5 years old, I take children to classes, where they, in fact, undergo "recipes" - we collect cars, dump trucks, airplanes and helicopters from the cubes, and equip these buildings with engines so that they have wheels and screws ( We are engaged on LEGO WEDO 2.0). Programming is given only to those who themselves are drawn to learn "how it happens there."



From 7 years old, the child usually matures enough to consciously delve into complex things without losing interest. At this age, we are already engaged in “Eva”, mastering such concepts as “degree of angle, percentage, decimal fraction” (well, otherwise, here we are working closely with the sensors). Usually no one has any particular problems with this, if there is an interest in knowledge. Problems arise only when we already need something to divide-multiply, but have not yet passed this at school.



10-14 years old is the most effective age for learning, since the attitude to the subject is usually more serious, the interest is more professional, and there is no fear of the sixth grade level math. In addition, you can tell why we need these notorious sine-cosines, the applied meaning of which in the school remains unexplored.



Also, after a year of training, you can switch from LEGO to a free element base (single-board computers and sensors from China + aluminum profiles from a hardware store).

And what if you buy a LEGO home and do it yourself?

This is a good idea if:

You have at least minimal knowledge of mechanisms and programming and are able to study the set fully independently. You have extra ~ 40 tr. for the purchase of a set and some additional modules. However, even in this case, it is better to study in parallel in a circle, developing at home those ideas that came to mind after studying a new topic.

Why don't we use instructions?

Instructions - from the evil one :)

When a child builds something according to the instructions, he simply repeats, without delving into the essence of what this or that detail or node is for. Of course, to buy an expensive LEGO Tehnic kit with a bunch of mechanics, pneumatics, and not to build the proposed models according to the instructions, at least for the sake of studying the principle of operation, is a bad idea. These models are very complex and interesting to learn. However, in our circle, the main thing is to implement some principle. But in what way is the problem of the student already, which he must solve using his head. Even if wrong, with errors, but - himself. Our instructions are used only when we assemble a model with very complex mechanics and / or a program to study the principle of operation.

If the circle is collected according to the instructions constantly - this is evidence of the professional incompetence of the teacher. This is often observed in franchise circles and at schools.

An exception can be considered books - collections of various mechanical assemblies from LEGO (and not only). This crib is very useful in the design.

How does the programming process?

For LEGO Mindstorms EV3 there are several options:

1. Integrated programming environment right in the main module. From there, you can program simple linear algorithms like “first go forward to the wall, then turn straight to the left”. With this we begin. This allows us to postpone the study of computer programming and focus on the basics.
2. Special software for computers and tablets, based on the LabView "adult" visual programming system. The program is assembled from function blocks. This allows you to avoid problems with the study of syntax and the functionality is not inferior to adult text programming. True, it looks cumbersome, yes. But clearly. Loops, conditional operators, variables, functions, and all that is available. This is our main tool.
3. If you wish, you can use C or another programming language, but if there is such a question, then it’s better to use Arduino and in general this is a completely different story.

At this point I will finish, thanks for reading!