Summer LEGO Classes

It's almost Summer again! And that means it's time for the annual tradition of holding free LEGO robot classes at area libraries.  Two years ago, as part of the INCH homeschool co-op that we attend, I taught a class on LEGO NXT Mindstorms robots.  That summer, I was asked if I could do one class at Hayden Library (Idaho).  It was so fun for the kids, as well as myself, that I added Liberty Lake to my itinerary and turned it into an annual occurrence.  This year, I will also be visiting Post Falls Library for the first time!

One or two hours is nowhere near enough time to learn how to build and program these robots, so I can do little more than whet the kids' appetites.  Each class lasts 60-75 minutes and includes a brief, educational slide show, a hands-on team activity, and watching the robots compete in some sort of a challenge.

Most of the robots I use are borrowed from Discover Technology, a non-profit science education organization in Post Falls, which promotes science and technology education to area kids.  They also organize summer camps and have sponsored teams in the FIRST LEGO League local and national competitions.

If you live in the area, and have children ages 9-14, check out the schedule below.  Hope to see you there!

"What is a Robot?" & Demolition Derby
Monday, June 18	Hayden	10:30-11:30AM, Noon-1:00
Saturday, June 23	Liberty Lake	10:30-Noon
Wednesday, July 11	Post Falls	4:00-5:30PM
"What is Binary?" & Robot Tic Tac Toe
Friday, July 13	Post Falls	4:00-5:30PM
Monday, July 23	Hayden	10:30-11:30AM, Noon-1:00
Saturday, August 25	Liberty Lake	10:30-Noon

The Robotic Forklift

I built this forklift shortly after we got our first NXT set.  It was my first original robotics project, even if the rover part was built using the instruction manual.  :)  For a long time, I had a long and awful unedited version on my YouTube channel, but I finally got around to recording a new narrative and shortening the clip to something more tolerable.

The algorithm for following the oval track is something I've used repeatedly and probably deserves a little explanation.  I made a great slide show that talks about it, which I plan to link to soon.

Detecting when a block gets loaded was pretty tricky, since the blocks were too light to extert enough pressure on the touch sensor's button.  I had to get a little clever with levers, to increase the sensitivity.

You'll note at the end of the video how the robot was unable to recover when it missed a block.  I might have been able to use an ultrasonic sensor (or two) to guide the prongs of the forklift more accurately.  As it was, I had to place the blocks around the track just right, in order for the robot to get to them.

In the coming weeks, I'll be adding more fun videos of projects past.


Here is a recently posted video of a guy in Brazil, who uses a real-life forklift to perform the extremely delicate task of dropping a coin into a bottle.  Extremely impressive, but it makes me wonder what's next?  Washing dishes with a back-hoe?