Dot and Dash - Digital Technologies
Programming, algorithms, human and computers,
Teacher Tips
Thoughts, tips and thinking.
Pre-knowledge
What I already know can help me…
Have you used Scratch before?
Have you used Dash Robots before?
Have you used Blockly?
Have you coded before?
Do you know what 90° is - looks like?
Do you know how long 30cm is? Show me your fish size!
Set up an Arena
Create an arena that is flexible and moveable and ready for instant use. This arena is used for a lot of different challenges without really changing many of the velcro dot positions.
Curriculum Lesson Ideas
Curriculum Lesson Ideas
Need to register with the site. Premium lessons are $60 US a year.
Curriculum Lesson Ideas
Trouble Shoot
Connection?
Step 1: Make sure device bluetooth is on
Step 2: Restart your device
Step 3: Restart Dash and Dot ( to restart hold the power button for 7 seconds)
Step 4: Try connecting again.
Introduction
This presentation has a range of activities and ideas for the introduction and exploration of Dash and Dot robots. Many of the ideas can be applied to other robots (Edison, BeeBot, mBot, ev3 Mindstorm etc.).
We chose Dash and Dot due to the flexibility, ability for oral interaction, robustness and fun that they are. They work with all ages, including teachers!
Photocopy resources to accompany this file are found here and other general graphic organisers here.
Teachers: Don’t miss a range of teaching notes and thoughts in the Speaker Notes below!
Scaffolding Pre-Readers or Beginning �Learners
Print, laminate and put magnetic strips on a set of instructions from this printable. Put on the board a mix of the blocks pupils will use.
Play games and sing songs that teach them their left and right in physical terms.
Use apps like code spark, code.org, codeapillar etc to teach block use skills in other contexts.
Organising Robots...A place to be….
Charging Dash
Put on shelf, multi-chargers and cables. Talk about routines of parking in “garage” like electric cars do.
Moving robots around easily.
Place in a plastic box with a layer of stiff plastic in between.
Ideas for a mat ‘tile’ area.
Unbox and Setup
Safety with Dash ~ Heart Hold
Curriculum
Programming the Robots
You can programme Dot and Dash with a range of programs from Wonder, mostly using the “Blockly” App. This is the recommended option.
The ‘Tickle’ App also programs Dash. Sometimes you can reinforce concepts by challenging pupils to recreate something you have just taught them in Tickle. This is a paid upgrade however and is relatively expensive for what you get.
Curriculum from Wonder Workshop
Robot Parts
Inside
Inside
First Coding
Understanding how to Code
WALT: our world is full of code and we can write some basic code to. Robots do what they are told in sequence.
Getting Started
First Use if Reading is a barrier?
Pre-knowledge
Do I know my left and right? If not here.
Program Dash as per on right.
You can now use Dash on a grid structure to drive using just his buttons on the top.
Challenges
Short challenges based on real life scenarios
Dash Challenges -Quickest to Perform - Best Efficient Code!
Create a road with blocks or shapes with turns and get Dash to drive it. Change the road and make it more complex.
Drive in a square and then change colours to celebrate.
Drive to create the capital letter ‘H’ and then do a celebration dance.
Use touch button to start and Draw a capital letter ‘A’.
Use a sensor to start and carry out your mission.
Car Crash
Get your robot to stop as it drives down the road. Using flashing hazard lights and what else could you do to help the person. Do not crash into the crashed car or stop too far away as you won't be near enough to help.
You may use some, all or more than these cards.
Level 1
Level 2
Guard Robot
You are not giving commands to a guard dog but a guard robot to protect the treasure of the Prime Minister for your country.
The treasure is simulated� by the plastic cup.
Use the Blockly app to code to solve the problem.
Intruder Alert!
Use the Blockly App
TAXI CALL
Your robot car needs to pick up the passenger from a certain place and take them to their destination. Start from one marker, touch 3 others on the quickest route to take the passenger home! You will learn to choose the best angle to turn on.
What is the quickest route to your destination that saves money for your client?
You may use some, all or more than these cards.
More:
Google Street View
You are mapping a block of the area with your scanner. Get ready to scan the block but think about how you go do it the quickest and most accurately.
Take a Picture every 2 seconds by flashing your lights.
More
Mine Clearing
There are a lot of refugees and villagers living near land with mines. Your robot has a number of missions to accomplish.
Test ability to move on a preprogrammed course, through a minefield, and scan it.
Keep us safe from danger!
BULLDOZER
You have an area to clear of rubbish that a previous owner has left on a property. Some of it is toxic and so you are going to test two methods of using your robot to clear it. Which is the fastest or can you make the fastest?
Attach the bulldozer blade tool.
The trash objects: Cups, lego, balls etc represent the rubbish and will be scattered throughout the 4 tile square. Return each object to the same place by taking a photo each time.
How quickly can you clear the land?
Can you create anything to attach to your design that will help the robot do the work?
BULLDOZER
Can you create anything to attach to your design that will help the robot do the work?
See te Reo Unit
Dash and Measurement
WALT: To teach about my left and right hand..
Dash and Measurement
WALT: To teach some of the basics about Dash and Measurement - centimetres
Dash and Measurement
WALT: To teach some of the basics about Dash and Measurement - centimetres
Stage 1 they programmed to here.
Stage 2 they programmed to here.
Stage 3 they programmed travelling around the roundabout.
Stage 4 back to the beginning
Moving Around Shapes 1
WALT: Get our robot to drive around shapes by understanding turns and degrees.
Activity Sequence
90° Right - Left turn
Forward
Repeats
Q: Why couldn’t the boy robot find the girl robot?
A: He couldn’t sensor.
PUMP ME
PUMP ME!
Dash needs his gas tank filled before driving off!
Have two buttons that can turn on Dash’s face LED, and another that can increase the lights on a press to change the level on fill.
When filled what will you get Dash to do?
Responding to Sensors
WALT: Understand that robots have sensors like humans, but they are different and have to be programmed.
Activity Sequence
Responding to Sensors
WALT: Coders have different ways to do a similar thing. However, some ways can have shorter code, some may work better. We can test different code to find the best.
Responding to Sensors
WALT: Understand that robots have sensors like humans, but they are different and have to be programmed.
Activity Sequence
Responding to Sensors
WALT: We can code Dash to act like a watchdog.
Practice, test and change your programming. Good coders keep looking for ways to improve.
Try changing one thing at a time to test improvements.
You are learning to use: sequences, loops, events, conditionals.
Activity Sequence
Treasure box
Controlling Robots
Start your engines.
Exploring the code and getting your robot to drive precisely. Robot Races!
Dash Rescue Challenge: To code driving over a ramp, around the red radioactive area, stop with interactive sensor at the wall, take a photo of the nuclear rods and return.
Grids and Movements - Bowling.
Using Addition, debugging language and strategy.
Grids and Movements - Kingdom.
Using Addition, debugging language and strategy.
Follow game format in video above.
Vary card types, add in cards of own numbers wanting to learn. (100, 200, 300, fractions, decimals etc) for harder levels.
Movements - Rescue
WALT: Robotics engineers are trying to build robots to rescue people. See if you can carry the “secret mission objects” back to your base.
Attach tow to Dash.
Design a buggy to carry objects (decide with pupils what these are beforehand).
Create obstacles. Pupils programme course around and must stop within certain distance of piled objects. Then they can fill the trailer and return them to base.
Moving Around Shapes 2
WALT: Get our robot to drive around shapes by understanding turns and degrees.
Degrees of a circle and in shapes.
Activity Sequence
Explore: Google Earth Compass
Getting Started - Wonder
Topic Ideas
Space Junk
Could we get trapped on Earth forever?
Pre-knowledge
What I already know can help me…
Have you used Scratch?
Have you used Dash Robots?
Have you used Blockly?
Have you coded before?
Do you know what 90° is - looks like?
Do you know how long 30cm is? Show me your fish size!
What is the problem?
Space Junk Videos
Activity 1
Manual Pilot
Use the Go App
From the yellow line steer your space craft to “bump” the satellites and junk into the atmosphere surrounding Earth so they fall and are burned up.
Each time 80 seconds passes (representing 8 hours of time) you need to swap the remote pilot if you have a partner.
Pick up each piece of debris you get to touch or go over the atmosphere line before you move on.
If you have to pick up your robot and return it to the start lines you need to count 10 sec penalty before you start again. (1001,1002…)
Push the ‘debris’ into the atmosphere.
Start from these lines. If you take your craft off the ‘field’ you must start again at one of the lines.
GO
Activity 2
Robotic Pilot
Use the Blockly App
From the yellow line programme your robot craft to knock as many as you can into the atmosphere.
Pick up each piece of debris you get to touch or go over the line before you move on.
Push the ‘debris’ into the atmosphere.
Start from these lines. If you take your craft off the ‘field’ you must start again at one of the lines.
Blockly
Space Junk videos.
Activity 1: Manually remote pilot around the earth orbit pushing space - junk closer to Earth to be burned up in the atmosphere WITHOUT hitting Earth.
Activity 2: Programme your robot vehicle to push the space junk into atmosphere.
Activity 3: Construct, using Lego your ideas for how you could also remove space junk. Use the Design Thinking process.
Space Junk Collector Bot
Space Station Challenge
Pre-knowledge
What I already know can help me…
Have you used Scratch?
Have you used Dash Robots?
Have you used Blockly?
Have you coded before?
Do you know what 90° is - looks like?
Do you know how long 30cm is? Show me your fish size!
We will learn to:
Dash Robot Space Docking
Tips
Create Your solution
Test
Reiterate
What does the challenge area look like?
Robot ready to go.
Velcro shapes
Edge of the universe.. Go beyond this and you disappear into the 4th dimension!
Christmas Hats
Teacher
Check out the pre-knowledge slide.
See notes below.
3 points for two “hats” knocked over and one pushed off its base. Will I get number 4?
Is there a better way to move over the area and get more “hats” using a better algorithm? Repeats?
Think and have a strategy…
A lot of people just jump into a problem and try to fix it without thinking of a strategy first. Strategies can save time, effort and money and still deliver a better result.
To help you think smarter:
Social Insects
Social Insects
In this unit we watched a range of movies, read books and did some activities.
The most complex was getting our bee ‘dash’ to fly to the flowers, avoid the wasp and back to the hive and do a little celebration (we talked about the ‘waggle’ dance). The boys in this video are Year 3 NZ.
They originally started with using forward and right/left turns and then we coded for use of the sensors. We had a discussion on senses and sensors. These boys had saved the program from last time, laid out the images and this was their first take.
Literacy
Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
Around the World
Medieval Times
Ancient Civilisations
Levers-Forces
Armour
Levers and Forces
Where are the levers? Forces? What are not levers?
WALT: To understand levers are all around us and are important to make work easier, to give a mechanical advantage.
There are four parts to a lever – lever arm, pivot, effort and load.
What are levers on the body? Move labels to the correct place.
Load
Pivot
Lever Arm
Effort
Load
Pivot
Lever Arm
Effort
Fulcrum
Simple Machines - Levers- Science
Dash and the Launcher
Think of what you have learned about catapults, levers, force, pivot points and look at the Dash accessories for a catapult.
5 min challenge can you assemble the catapult and get a ball to launch using the Blockly App.
Video this so you can explain the lever etc later. How will you video using a close-up to explain better? When editing try a slow-mo to help explain.
Stack plastic cups (3-2-1 Cup layers). Try to see how many you can knock down. Iterate and experiment with your algorithm to improve it.
Other Launcher Challenges
Amour
Jousting with Dash (create lego armour) points for most knocked off therefore how attack, how build strong.
Teams need to build a weapon (Joust) also - this could be quite creative.
Rule? Robots are not allowed to hit others with their bodies but only with the Lego?
Bigger Challenges
Some Ideas
Blockly Challenge Cards and Printable Blockly Blocks
Responding to Sensors
WALT: Understand that robots have sensors like humans, but they are different and have to be programmed. Understand how to programme Dash’s lift sensor to act as an alarm.
Activity Sequence
This is a program for Dot.. what can we do with Dash!
Other Resources
Design Thinking Process