1. Exploring Computer Science Lesson 6-2
Robot Algorithms
Exploring Computer Science
Lesson 6-2

2. Objectives Students will be able to:
Evaluate how the design of a robot’s body affects its behavior.
Create an algorithm to direct a human “robot” from one location to another.

3. Opener/Discussion
Think of all the physical qualities of a human being. Not the mental or emotional qualities. Pick one. What happens when you change that aspect of a robot’s design?
Pick another. What happens when you change that aspect of a robot’s design?
If you could change the body of the printer in this room, what would you change?
How would that body change affect other things about the printer, like its behavior, its function its price, its cost to build or its popularity? Pick anything you’d like.

4. Let’s Pause… Let’s look again at the “Are We Robots?” activity.
Let’s look at the radio and the iPad. Are they robots? Why?
You may want to redo this activity AND your Stove/Microwave activity.
If you redo this activity, you must use phrases or sentences for input, output and behavior. Choose any two DIFFERENT items in the table and one ORIGINAL one. Turn in your old chart stapled to your new chart.
If you redo the Stove/Microwave activity, you must write TEN sentences: 5 for the stove that correspond to the robot criteria and 5 for the microwave that correspond to the robot criteria. Saying, “The stove has input” doesn’t fly; there needs to be explanation. Turn in your old activity stapled to your new activity.

5. LIMITS!
There are limits to what robots can do because robots are limited by their bodies!
It’s difficult to create a robotic hand that can grasp small or delicate items – it would require MANY motors simulating all the muscles in the hand AND…
It would require many sensors to detect the item simulating the neurons in the hand.

6. Time for an Activity Part 1
You are in pairs and have a shoe with laces…
Try tying the shoe with eyes shut.
Now switch roles and try again.
Was it hard?
What was hard about it?
How was it like a robot tying the shoe? Or how was it different?

7. Time for an Activity Part 2
You are in pairs and have a shoe with laces…
Try tying the shoe with heavy gloves.
Now switch roles and try again.
Was it hard?
What was hard about it?
How was it like a robot tying the shoe? Or how was it different?

8. Time for an Activity Part 3
You are in pairs and have a shoe with laces…
Try tying the shoe with paint stirring sticks.
Now switch roles and try again.
Was it hard?
What was hard about it?
How was it like a robot tying the shoe? Or how was it different?

9. Time for an Activity Part 4
I need a volunteer…
Try tying the shoe with two pliers.
Was it hard?
What was hard about it?
How was it like a robot tying the shoe? Or how was it different?

10. Discussion
Think back to the PB&J exercise and your experiences with Scratch.
How do programming languages differ from English?
How do those differences affect how a robot functions?

11. Time for a short break…and a video
/watch?v=Cv6tuzHUuuk

12. Walk Like a Robot Part 1 SR: Take a step forward with the right foot.
You are in threes. One person is the robot. One person is the mapmaker. One person is the code recorder. You’re ALL programmers and contributing to the script.
Choose a starting point and an ending point between which the robot must navigate. DO THIS FIRST!!!
The robot must start on a yellow line and, at some point in its journey, stop at a tire, a door (not connected in any way to the tire) and a piece of wood (not connected in any way to the door).
The path can NOT be direct. That means there must be at least one turn in between the start and each stop. That means, minimally, three turns.
You must direct the robot from the starting point to the ending point using ONLY the following 5 commands. The recorder should use the abbreviations EXACTLY to construct the written version of your algorithm…your script:
L90: Turn left 90 degrees. (Your robot must be stopped before this turn!)
R90: Turn right 90 degrees. (Your robot must be stopped before this turn!)
SL: Take a step forward with the left foot.
SR: Take a step forward with the right foot.
STOP: Stop and bring feet together.

13. Walk Like a Robot Part 2 You are working in threes.
The robot should respond only to the previously mentioned 5 commands and no others.
Be careful with the robot and don’t walk it into walls or barriers. (The robot should stop before it hits a barrier such as a wall.)
You may use loops. You can tell the robot to repeat a command or a block of commands using the command: REPEAT X TIMES. This will repeat only the lines after the statement that are INDENTED. (This is frequently what is done in dancing and choreography – sequences of steps are repeated.)
Label your map: an ‘S’ for starting point and an ‘E’ for ending point. Draw a pathway from S to E. Draw in landmarks. These are things that don’t move…don’t change positions. Add a compass as well.

14. Walk Like a Robot Part 3
Once again, here are the only five commands you can use:
L90: Turn left 90 degrees. (Your robot must be stopped before this turn!)
R90: Turn right 90 degrees. (Your robot must be stopped before this turn!)
SL: Take a step forward with the left foot.
SR: Take a step forward with the right foot.
STOP: Stop and bring feet together.
REPEAT X TIMES: Repeats following indented statements x times.
You must turn in a sheet of paper with your group members names and an algorithm for the robot’s movement. A map, on a separate sheet of paper, is essential. It must specify the starting point with an S, an ending point with an E, a pathway, landmarks and a compass.

15. Conclusions
These are the kinds of commands that you will be programming your robots to execute.
You now have the rest of the period to catch up on any missing or low-scoring tasks from our Scratch unit.