I’m setting up my summer plans and they are looking good. I am again going to have the opportunity to teach coding to middle school students, and to add to that fun I am also teaching a robotics class. We will be using the graphical language Tynker for our coding classes and we will be using mBots as our robotics platform. mBots provide an extremely versatile system. The base devices begin at around $70. The beauty of this is that from there it is possible to add all sorts of additional mechanical pieces, servos and sensors. There are light sensors, sound sensors and more. The robots can be programmed to take actions based on these sensors.

Speaking of programming, we will be using Tynker for the coding classes and the mBlock software to program the robots. Both Tynker and mBlock are based on the Scratch programming language. Scratch is fully graphical and makes it easy for students to quickly see results. Its design prevents many of the common coding mistakes. Naturally, like any development platform, the results are exactly what is coded. What this means is that mistakes in code result in mistakes in the result. With Scratch the students will be able to quickly resolve the issues and fix the code. mBlock converts the graphic representation into Arduino code which can be easily loaded onto the mBot. As the students improve their coding skills they will progress to writing code directly rather than using a graphical representation of code.

What all of this means to me is that I have a fun summer ahead of me. There is little that compares with the fun of watching kids as they begin to grasp new concepts and find new ways to express their creativity. Coding is fun for them, and robotics takes an extra step beyond coding as it brings the virtual world of code into the physical world of robots.

For more information about Tynker visit http://tynker.com and for more information about the mBots visit http://makeblock.cc. I am also happy to answer any questions. Please feel free to contact me using the form below.