| LEGO robotics is a very popular tool for introducing engineering concepts to elementary school classrooms through project-based learning and open-ended design challenges. It is useful for this purpose because LEGO bricks are reusable materials, they allow for designs to be quickly iterated upon, and it is easy for students to design very different solutions to the engineering problem with which they are presented. This thesis proposes a wireless LEGO robotics kit programmed from an Apple iPad, targeted for a 2nd-3 rd grade classroom. The product is designed to fill a gap between two currently existing LEGO products: the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT and the WeDo. This device is intended to be more flexible for a larger variety of activities than the WeDo, and to expand the age range of the target market to students as old as 3rd grade, before they are ready to begin using the NXT. This is done in three main ways. First, the new device is wireless, which allows the robot hub to be used in activities and applications where it is impractical to be within tethered reach of the computer (e.g. moving across the floor, hanging from the ceiling, etc.). Next, the robot hub can turn on the motors with a simple button press, without being programmed at all. This allows students to focus on physical building before moving to computer programming, a common sequence in classrooms, while still being able to add motion to and test their designs. Finally, students can program their robot builds with either a computer or an iPad. The Apple iPad is a popular tablet that is very intuitive for younger children to use, and some classrooms utilize it as their main computer resource. Allowing this device to interact with and even control a robot in the real world opens up endless possibilities for future projects involving the iPad interacting with the physical world around it. The goal of this project is to develop a new robotics platform and programming interface, and perform initial testing with this platform with 2nd-3rd grade children. This report describes the first two iterations of this device, and suggests a direction for further development of this project. |
