Vibrobots - Simple Robots that Move for a Maker Activity

Last Saturday I led some workshops at the Association of National Plus Schools annual teacher's conference in Jakarta. My workshop was all about Makerspace and Capturing the Learning in Real Time.

I used the term Makerspace in the perspective that it is a place where you can make something which could be really anywhere. I have always employed Maker activities in my classroom. I wanted to share about how making can unlock understandings in a way that viewing pictures or videos can't.

For this workshop we made a simple electric robot from recycled materials. I am really interested in robotics but I am even more interested in the mechanics and trying to understand how things work and why they work. These are abstract concepts but even young students can understand them when they get the chance to make it with their hands.

We started with the basic equipment:

a plastic cup
3 marker pens
two electrical wires with the ends stripped
a AA battery
a DC motor
electrical tape
sticky tape

About DC motors:
You can find DC motors inside many household items such as electric toothbrushes, battery operated fans or mixers. Here is an example of a motor inside a mixer.

Step 1:

Tape the markers to the plastic cup.

Step 2:

Make sure that the three markers are firmly attached with sticky tape. Put the markers facing downwards so that your robot can draw.

Step 3:

Prepare 2 copper wires by stripping (removing) the plastic from each end.

Step 4:

Connect one wire on each side of the motor. Thread the metal through the loop and twist to secure. Add a small weight to offset the motor shaft. This is to make the motor vibrate.

Step 5:

Tape the battery on the top of the cup. Tape the motor so that the spinning shaft is off the edge of the cup.

Step 6:

Using small pieces of electrical tape, tape on wire to the positive 'bump' end of the battery and one wire to the flat negative end. Using electrical tape is great because you can pull one end on and off to act as a switch.

Step 7:

Pull off the marker pen caps and place your robot on some paper. Watch it draw.



#Troubleshooting - Be aware that your circuit must be well connected or the motor won't run. Sometimes cheap DC motors can be faulty and you may have one that just doesn't work. Recheck your wiring too.

Make sure that your learners document the process with photographs and or video. Consider the 'Split Screen Learning Intentions' and focus on not just what you are learning but also how you are learning.

Extension Activities:

Try placing the battery on the centre of the cup end with the motor on top. Does this change the patterns that your robot is drawing? Try other combinations. Try using a different weight to offset the motor. Can you measure how these changes affect the drawing that your robot does? Consider how this activity can help your students understand about circuits and motion. Take some video and compare the differences. Identify how small changes affect the way your robot moves and draws.

3D Printing with Grade 4 at JIS

3D printing is rapidly evolving and becoming more affordable and easier to do. I have been reading up on the subject and I am very curious about how this can be applied in the Elementary classroom.

The book that I am reading is called 'Fabricated' by Hod Lipson & Melba Kurman. It covers many uses for 3D printing from household to medical to even printed food that can be eaten!

I was excited to learn that one of my favourite apps - Trimble Sketch Up has a template for 3D printing. This is a great free program that is easy to use.  I worked with a small group of students from Grade 4 for extension Math. 

To start the lesson I asked the students what they already knew about 3D printing. Some students knew a lot. They knew that you can print edible food, print a car and even print models created in Minecraft.

Next I asked them if they would be interested in making something to be printed. Well, the reaction was of high excitement!

So, onto SketchUp. In advance I had already downloaded and installed this free program on some laptops from the school cart. There is no version of SketchUp for iPad, so the students would need to use a laptop for this task.

Inside SketchUp, there is a special template for 3D printing.You must keep your object within the box as this is the printable size for most 3D printers. I gave the students a lesson on how to create a 3D object using the Push/Pull tool and then asked them to create the first letter in their name. Some students were really quick so I asked them to look at the symmetry and make sure that their letter was properly balanced.

Here is a screenshot of an 'A' created by one of the students. The next job was to Airdrop it to me so that I could further prepare the file for printing.

To prepare the file, I had to export it as an .STL file. This is the file type for 3D printing. It is a good idea to have that exported file checked for errors. In order for a 3D file to be printed, all the surfaces must close properly around the shape. If there are any holes, it will not print. After some research, I learned that there is a free cloud service that actually checks and repairs your file for you. That service is called NettFab. All you do is create an account, upload the .STL file and it will repair it for you. When the file is finished, you just download it ready to use.

Now that I had all the prepared files, I needed to book a time for the 3D printer which is located in the Design Technology classroom in our High School. The teacher there was very kind and helpful. He made a further conversion of our files as the printer requires each file to be put through a program first. This conversion essentially turns each model into layers ready for the printer to process. 

On Monday we all walked up to the High School to see the printer in action. Luckily when we arrived, one of the files - this letter A was already in the middle of being printed. It takes over an hour for a 7cm letter to be printed! The printer is already 2 years old and I have read that the new printers are much faster. Here is a film that I made of the printer in action.

Learning with Smartboard

Today 5 students from University Pelita Harapan visited SWA to learn about how technology is used in the teaching and learning process. When visiting Grade 4, the Uni students got to learn first hand from the kids how to use the Smartboard for Maths. They all agreed that using the Smartboard is really engaging and helps to consolidate concepts.