Hi all
I am looking for a new challenge for my cluey 12 year old daughter who has been taking robotics classes for over a year. She is using a Korean robotics kit from RoboRobo, with drag and drop coding interface. (This link shows what’s in the Stage 1 kit, though she has lots more components now: RoboRobo Kit - Robotics & Coding (Core) - Build A Robot)
She has taught herself basic coding in Javascript and Python and is ready for more.
I am looking for a kit or something for her to tinker with that will give her a completely different challenge to her robotics classes.
Is that possible? I’ve looked at the Arduino and Kitronik starter kits but I’m not sure if they will be too easy for her given her prior experience, or whether there is too much crossover.
At some point you will need to decide if you want to stay with kits or branch out into your own experimentation and design. The best resource at that time will be a 3D printer. The ability to construct the mechanical parts to use with the electronic components adds a significant new dimension to the hobby, and the new design skills will complement the coding and electronic skills already underway.
I always find these sorts of questions hard to answer as it really is very specific to the end person.
I would try to ensure you move forwards and challenge the thought process and increase the level of the challenge.
My first question would be more “What is it that you cant do now that you would like to be able to do!” That should help define a project. Once that is known, you can then select a way of doing that that will be at a level where they should be able to get it to work, but hard enough that they need to learn something new. Then when that project is completed, review it; “is there a better way we could have done it?”. “What if we could … ?”
e.g. A long term path might be along these lines.
Start with a very well know framework with all prebuilt components where you just need to connect the bits. - My guess is this is where they are at now
Select where you would like to improve on that and move onto building that bit (with off the shelve modules and libraries). i.e. introduce chip to chip communications.
Look at where #2 is not meeting your needs. “I would like to work with module Y but there is no library for my dev board!” this has the need to write the code for the module.
I would like it to do… but that does not exist, now your into some hardware design and some software coding.
My key point, is it should follow a natural path where the developer has something THEY want to do, that way they will put in the time to make it work. If they are not interested in hardware development, then giving them a kit normally wont get them interested; they need that interest.
Note: this is just my view as I don’t know the person in question so everything should be taken as is that may or may not work for them.
Could you let us know what sort of projects she takes on in her robotics classes?
It might be easier to recommend something if we can narrow down the scope a little bit.
It may be worth looking into having her design her own projects.
This can be daunting but it may be useful to have a look at projects that have been submitted to us from our community for inspiration.
Thank you for this, it is incredibly helpful and blatantly obvious now you have explained it. She does know the basics of coding, robotics and electronics, so the next step is to make it more personal. I will think about her interests and work backwards.
The projects are basically robots that do different (random) tasks, like move forward, use a claw grip to lift a cup, and then deposit it elsewhere. At this point it’s the trial and error of the coding that is keeping her challenged.
She is interested in art (especially digital art) and technology, she likes to create Lego worlds, plus she just got her first phone. I think she would get a kick out of an LED display, anything to do with lighting, and maybe some wifi enabled projects?
I will check on the projects page, thank you for your help. Any other advice greatly appreciated!
