Sphero Robots are such an amazing tool for the classroom. During the hour of code my class had the chance to use Sphero 2.0. I had created a total of eight courses in our classroom using tape. Each course varied in turns, jumps, and speed.
Using the Macrolab app, which is available for IOS and Android, students had to code the Sphero to complete the courses. Prior to students attempting to navigate the courses, I provided a brief mini-lesson over adding commands for the Sphero.
We began by talking about the "taillight" and how this is used to orient the Sphero robot. This was a great opportunity to make a connection with math and how many degrees are in a circle.
We began by talking about the "taillight" and how this is used to orient the Sphero robot. This was a great opportunity to make a connection with math and how many degrees are in a circle.
The next step was to talk about creating a "macro." You can see the image below has three buttons at the bottom. The plus sign at the bottom right allows students to create a new macro. We related it to having a folder to store all the commands you wanted the robot to do on a single course.
Once inside of the macro, students are able to select the commands they thought would be needed to complete the course. The common commands we discussed were the roll, stop and RGB commands.
I also discussed how to manipulate the "roll" command. You can see below that you have the choice to customize the speed, heading and delay. We briefly talked about the heading and what right, left and straight would look like with a degree. One of the trickier pieces to wrap our heads around was the delay. It is in milliseconds which 1,000 ms equated to 1 full second. After covering some of the basics, students were off to explore the courses.
As students began to code the robotic balls to complete the courses, they quickly realized they would have to problem solve multiple times to get Sphero to complete the course.
Here are two examples of students attempting to complete a course and failing. However, both groups did troubleshoot and successfully complete the courses.
Here are two examples of students attempting to complete a course and failing. However, both groups did troubleshoot and successfully complete the courses.
Reflecting back on this chance for students to utilize the robots I was able to see how powerful this tool is in a classroom. Everyday I had students asking if they got to do robots again. The conversations that took place between small groups as they tried to problem solve was priceless. I look forward to finding other curricular areas to integrate the robotic balls. Sphero robots and the hour of code was a huge success.
Sphero Education
Sphero even offers some great resources for teachers/parents. They have a program called SPRK (Students, Parents, Robots, Kids). This program has some user friendly lesson plans and resources to get your kids exploring with the Sphero robots.
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