Part 1-Finch

The finch robots are programmable robots that can be made to complete various tasks. You will work on this part of the lab with a partner. Using these robots are a little different than our previous scratch projects.

You will need to use the offline editor for scratch. This is on your computer. You can either search for scratch or click on the icon
You will also need to use the extensions built by the makers of the finch robots. You will open “BirdBrainRobot” AFTER you have plugged in a working finch robot.
You should see the following, click “open scratch”

You will now see the finch specific blocks under the “more blocks”

Part 1-A: Calibration

The finch robot has the above blocks built in. However, these are not very useful for commands like “turn left”. You will build the following commands for your finch using block creation:

Create a moveForward block that moves forward for a given time step

Note: The wheels won’t stop until the following code is executed, think about how you can use the wait command to move a given time step.

Create a moveBackwards block that moves backwards for a given time step
Create a turnLeft block that turns the finch to the left
Create a turnRight block that turns the finch to the right
Create a variable “blocked” that uses the boolean values “Finch Left Obstacle” and “Finch Right Obstacle” to determine if the finch is obstructed.

Part 1-B: Problems

Using the blocks that you created from part 1-A, solve the following problems:

Create a program that makes the finch move in a square. The square should be roughly 2 feet on each side. Further, the finch’s beak should light up different colors on each side of the square. Challenge: after it has completed a square, have the finch complete the square backwards.
Using the positions of the finch () have the finch say something (school appropriate) in each orientation. That is, when the beak is placed down have the finch say “my beak is down”. Note: This will come from the speakers in the computer, not the finch itself
Have the finch move until it detects an obstacle. It should then back up, turn around and go the other way.
Write code that has the finch complete a figure 8. Challenge: once it has done a complete figure 8, have it return backwards.

Part 2-Project-Build a calculator

Minimum Requirements

This is a partner project that will simulate a calculator. The calculator must have the following operations:

Add
Subtract
Divide (think about division by zero)
Multiply

Note, each of the above operations should be defined by its own block that you create. For the addition operation, you will need to create something like:

Further, for the minimum requirements, your calculator doesn’t have to “look” like a calculator. That is, it can be a sprite that asks questions about what the user would like to choose.

If you complete the minimum requirements, please work on the following extensions.

Extension #1

Please add the following extensions

power (^ button on a standard calculator)
factorial
Factor-This should determine if a number is a factor of another number (as specified by the user)

Extension #2

Create a user interface that “looks” like a calculator. That is, the user should be able to push “buttons” for entering numbers and operations. Note, you will need to think about the calculator will “know” when the user is done entering number and what each button press represents (think about our number system).

For example, “pressing” the buttons 1, then 2 then 3 should store the number 123 whereas pressing the buttons 1 and 2 should store the number 12. To make things simpler, assume that a number will only have 4 possible digits and there are no decimals.