Here we are in 2021, finally seeing the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. Back in March of 2020, we were doing a deep dive into the computing capabilities of the dji Robomaster S1 robots, harnessing their FPV cameras and the mathematical concept of tangents to follow blue lines of painting tape on the floor in a race circuit. Our EV3 robots were being built and programmed for the upcoming Sumo competition. Then, the world hiccuped. School was closed, and all learning was shifted to online platforms. The robots went into hibernation for more than a year.I'm happy to report that not only are the robots back, but in order to accommodate our return to 100% in-person instruction, Robotics has been turned into an Exploratory class for the remainder of the year, like Phys. Ed or Art. Additionally, we received another generous grant from The Davenport Trust to purchase a classroom set of iPads allowing us to seamlessly connect all of our robots via Bluetooth and program them in the Scratch language. This is a quantum leap from the antiquated EV3 programming language, allowing students to explore and apply sophisticated concepts of math and logic to their programs. The interface also gives a real time readout of sensor values which is helpful when setting threshold levels and observing the behavior of the robots.
We don't yet know what Robotics instruction will look like next year, but I am confident that we will continue to use our deep inventory of 'bots and iPads to awaken kids' creativity and ingenuity and to inspire them to think big. It's very exciting to be back at it!
