First Whack at Missions

On Monday we had some exciting times!  We took our first whack at breaking down missions!  

Before a program can be written to accomplish a task, the kids have to understand the minute detail in order to communicate the task to the robot.  So...

We started with two volunteer "robots" -- we had Gray and Anna act as sample robots – demonstrating that if you follow the same directions but start from two different places, you don’t get the same result. Then the idea that base is a box with tall sides.  Then that you can use a jig made ONLY of Legos. Then the idea that the table sides of the base are the FIXED elements, so make a very reliable place to start.  We covered that A, B & C are motor ports and that 1,2,3 are sensor ports.  Then quickly showed breaking down a mission (not one they would be using to start).  

Last 10 minutes of practice!  3 kids from HS/2 kids from HH on obstacles (with me), 4 kids from HS/3 kids from HH on People & Pets with Eric in the hall, 3 kids from HH with Blake trying to fix/prep the cargo plane. ONLY ONE ROBOT!  The plane is still in process.  Eric's group came away with a page full of notes.  And, the kids looking at obstacles made some great discoveries about the obstacles mission. 

It was frantic, but it felt like success in the end!  Good work!

Now, who's ready to get started programming?