Microbit Animatronics Project

This is a lesson from our computer science unit. Students spent a few weeks working with microbit by itself, learning how to program (sequencing, conditionals, events, loops, etc). Now we have added in a Hummingbird Bit to be able to easily connect and control more hardware. This includes outputs (servos, individual LEDs) and more inputs (sensors such as sound, light, distance, and dial).

This 6th grade class was tasked with building animatronics (animated robotic characters) from the components in the Hummingbird Bit kits and basic materials like cardboard. The robotics characters need to have at least one sensor input, and at least one servo output as well as one other output.

This is an ongoing project, so I do not have any pictures or video yet of finalized products.

Microbit

Hummingbird Bit

Servos, LED lights, and Sensors

Cardboard

Other craft materials

Hot Glue

Give students a theme (or a few to choose from). For our project this year we had two choices: Cute Critter or Scary Scene.

Their goal: design a robot that follows the theme and has at least one input (a sensor) and at least two outputs (one of which must be action-based, such as a servo motor- the other can be anything (sound, light, etc)).

Have students follow the engineering design process. Start with Research and Brainstorming. For research, my students looked up animatronics that already exist in their theme area. They also used the hummingbird bit build site get ideas for mechanisms that could be used in their designs.

Before this lesson, my students went through tutorials for using each component of the hummingbird kit, using this tutorial site. This way they had experience with each component and could consider which components would give them the actions and effects that they wished for.

My students use a google slides document to organize their planning and collaborate.

After research, they sketch a plan of their physical build AND write out a plan (pseudocode) for their program.

Students use cardboard to prototype their animatronic characters. They focus on prototyping one mechanism at a time. (Computational thinking skill: Break down problems, build up solutions). I don't have specific instructions for this step- each build is unique to the student design.

• Don't be afraid to hot glue things to the servo arms (after all, most stuff can be removed later, and servo arms are inexpensive
• Instead of cutting a rectangle hole for the servos, we like to cut flaps out, so the servo has a "platform" that it can be taped to, already integrated into the cardboard
• When running servos, the microbits need battery power in addition to any USB connection from your computer.
• Tinker- make something, test it, take it apart, improve it.

We use microbit makecode to program our hummingbird bit robots. Makecode can be used in blocks or in javascript (and students can switch between)- this makes it very flexible for different experience levels of students. Also, it works on chromebooks, which is what our school uses.

The blocks to run the hummingbird bit servos are found under "extensions".

Students work on programming one piece of hardware at a time (for example: I want this arm to move back and forth between two positions). Gradually they build up a complete solution.

Sometimes students will use the "on button press" event handler as a way to test a chunk of code before making it continuous or tied to a sensor (In the narwhal here, the tail and waves are both currently in testing mode with button A and B on the microbit as the events)

Common errors to watch for:

• Setting servos or LEDs to the incorrect port (example: plug into port 3 but program port 1)
• Not turning on the external battery (to power the servos)
• Misunderstanding about the two servo types (position servos can go to any position 0-180, versus continuous rotation servos which are great for spinning things)
• Not commenting the code (making it hard to troubleshoot or debug)

At the end of this project all of the robots from all 6th graders are lines up by theme and students go around a view and interact with the robotic sculptures.

Students write a quick description of their robot and how to activate it on an index card. The robots are randomly numbered to help with feedback and voting (to anonymize the projects and help feedback be about the product rather than about whomever created it) .

Feedback: All students give "TAG" feedback to at least five other projects (Tell something positive, Ask a question, Give a suggestion that the student can act upon to improve their project)

"Best of" Voting: all students get to vote on the "best" project for each theme, and the best overall. The winning team gets bragging rights and a little 3D printed trophy.

The top robots (top 3 each category) will also be displayed to the community at our annual arts evening.