Robotics was a new theme Curious Jane offered this past summer, and it was so exciting to see the projects that the girls made in class. Many of the projects combined engineering and design in such great ways, because while the girls had to follow very specific directions in order to make the project work, they were still able to show off their artistic sides at the same time.
The Circuit Card Project was a perfect example of this convergence: In order for the LED light to work, the circuit has to be constructed in just the right way. But, once the light works, each girl could design her card so that the light became whatever she wanted to make it: a winking cat eye,
or a traffic light,
or the candle on top of a cake.
One of the more complicated projects engineering-wise was the Drawbot Project. The circuit that this project used is more a little more complex than the Circuit Card, because the battery has to be connected to the motor in the right way, plus the girls had to figure out how to make a switch out of the wires. Then, they had to make sure they remembered which way the current is flowing while they put the robot together, and use electrical tape to tape everything on, otherwise they’d get a short circuit! Also, in order for the robot to draw, the motor, battery, and wires have to be balanced evenly on the cup so that it doesn’t fall over.
The girls had to keep the balancing element in mind once they started to decorate their robot. This is the part of the project when their creativity really shone through. Some girls gave their Drawbots names and faces, and some went with a more abstract theme. One girl, Evy, 9, color-coordinated her decorations with the markers the Drawbot used.
Some used the decorative elements to make their Drawbot balance differently so the pattern will be different, and some had to tweak the placement of things on their robots so they’d still work once they were decorated.
Keeping all of those elements in mind while designing, building, and testing the Drawbots can be tough to do, and sometimes it took awhile to get it to work. A few girls in Berkeley Carroll’s Robotics class this summer told me that sometimes, it was very frustrating to try something so many times and have it just not work right. But, they also told me how great they felt when they finally got their robot to work!
I love that while our girls learned about currents and engineering, they also learned that overcoming something challenging can make the payoff so much more rewarding. And the payoff for the Drawbot Project is pretty neat: a robot that makes unique pieces of art all by itself… or with other robots!
Here are some great links to get you going:
“Anatomy of a Draw Bot”
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/10/how-to-make-a-kids-draw-b.html
Video of Draw Bot moving
http://vimeo.com/107747
To make your own, get your motors here!
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G18186
To see a more sophisticated (and programmable) drawbot in action, check out: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/01/make-it-last-build-3-the-drawbot.html
