Background
Recently I was invited to run a robot workshop alongside my brother for Bromley Mencap. We reached out to the founder of Crumble, a company that produces small microcontroller boards alongside robot and neopixel kits, to test out some of their most recent robots (see below).
Crumble Cub Robot
Crumble Robotic Vehicle
Testing the Robots
From Crumble, we received 10 of each robot. After building both, I decided that my workshop would be better with the Crumble Cup Robot (Left). The Crumble Cup Robot was easier to assemble and the creative potential with the pen holder and line follower was greater. Whilst testing the Crumble Cup Robot, I first checked the wiring and polarity of the motors, then I placed a pen in the pen holder and attempted to draw some different shapes. Two days before the workshop I invited some friends down to test my workshop out on. Together we created all sorts of shapes as well as exploring the line follower function of the robot ahead of the actual workshop.
The Workshop
Delivering robot workshop
Finished robots and drawings created
I ran the morning session for the primary school young carers and my brother ran the afternoon session with the older carers. It actually went really well as we had a few pre-made robots which the participants were able to create drawings with, motivating them to create their own. By the end of the session all the participants had created all sorts of shapes, had programmed the neopixels on their robots and even tried out the line follower. This was one of the most rewarding workshops I've delivered as all the young people managed to get their robots running and got really immersed into the workshop.