Robot Lego Ev3
Verne Hodge
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FIRST LEGO League guides youth through STEM learning and exploration at an early age. From Discover, to Explore, and then to Challenge, students will understand the basics of STEM and apply their skills in an exciting competition while building habits of learning, confidence, and teamwork skills along the way.
A chance to shine! Each FIRST LEGO League season culminates with a celebration where teams show off what they learned and invented, and in our oldest division, compete with their robots. Some teams earn an invitation to FIRST LEGO League World Festival as part of FIRST Championship, where teams from all over the world meet and compete.
This week our family project with the kids was to build and program a Lego Mindstorms Dancing Robot. I thought this would be a great exercise in computer programming for the kids because a computer program is just a sequence of instructions, and a dance routine is a series of movements. Programming a robot to make specific movements in a set order seemed like a great way for them to get an immediate visual reward for their efforts.
For the legs we followed the same construction as much as possible, while enlarging the feet to improve stability. For the upper body, we followed the same concept of using the small motor to move the arms with sensors for hands, but we really had to do a very different design because we had different pieces to work with.
The Lego Mindstorms EV3 software uses a block programming structure where blocks are dragged with the mouse and snap together. This is similar to the concept used in the popular Scratch programming platform (read more about Scratch here). Each block we used controls the movement of a motor (one of the legs or the arms), sets a wait time or simple loop, or controls one of the display options of the main brick (facial expression or light).
Once you have the robot built and dancing, another fun project is to add Alexa voice control. In September 2019, hackster.io launched the LEGO Mindstorms Voice challenge with very helpful instructions on adding voice control commands to Mindstorms robots. The contest provided very helpful instructions to add voice control capability. This is a much more advanced project since it involves several technical steps, but it is a great challenge for those who are very comfortable with programming on different platforms. You can see our projects on Hackster.io at the links below.
We are trying to download the building directions to the dancing robot. We subscribed to the website and it still would not let me. Can you please send it to me through my email. I teach robotics at Newberry Christian Community School.
I keep hearing so much praise on the mindstroms, I think I will buy it this christmas. Id love to watch the dancing sequence you made with your kids but the video didnt work for me for some reason :/ I have found that there are multiple mindstroms kits. Which one would you recommend?
During my formidable years, I was hooked on the Jetsons. Saturday mornings I would rush to my TV to see what antics that wacky family would get into. Their robot, Rosie, always had a special place in my heart. I thought it would be great to have a robot rolling around cleaning the house. I sure didn't want to clean my house. So the next time my momma demanded I pick up my sock that was lying on the floor I blurted out, "Woman! I'm building a robot!"
After a swift kick in the butt, I was sent to my room. I was alone with my Lego bricks and my determination. After an eternity of punishment I swaggered out of my room with one awesome looking robot. Only one problem: it didn't talk or move or clean. OK, so that was three problems. So right then and there I decided I was going to be an engineer and build a real robot.
As if they were reading my mind, Lego created a walking, talking, thinking robot that I can put together: Lego Mindstorms EV3! Best of all, it's powered by the company that pays me: Texas Instruments. Lego Mindstorms EV3 is a complete building set that contains hardware and software to create customizable and programmable robots. My dream come true!
Lego Boost isn't a regular Lego kit: it's a connected, programmable robotics set. It pairs with a tablet or phone with Bluetooth. It has motors and proximity sensors. And it might be the best all-in-one Lego kit I've ever seen. But it's definitely a challenge. And, in the last week, I've sucked down a Lego rabbit hole.
Lego Boost is also a robot kit, and it's more advanced than you might think. A central Bluetooth-connected motorized hub with two separate modules come included. The hub drives motors that can lift arms, make treads move, or turn robot heads. One module has sensors that measure proximity and color. The other has an additional motor.
840 pieces come in the kit for $160, which isn't bad by Lego standards. The kit can make more than one robot, too; in fact, the set has instructions for five main creations, and can be customized to others. Also, everything can be programmed with block-based coding tools in a connected phone/tablet app... which, by the way, you need to use Lego Boost.
None of Lego Boost's robots can make sounds on their own, but your paired phone or tablet can make it sound like it has sound effects. The app has a giant sound board of hundreds of phrases and effects, ranging from pleasant greetings to a spectrum of flatulence. The vast (and sometimes confusing) app also can record new voice samples for some of its various parts.
Lego Boost has a lot of unlockable extras, and that's fantastic. I tested on a beta build with most parts unlocked already. I found it got a little confusing to know where to go next, though, and how to make things happen in different sections of the app. There are a number of minigame-like areas to make Vernie dance and move, and it's hard to figure out where to start.
Several hours later, I had a mini-banjo-like electric guitar replica. It doesn't have its own speakers, but it plays sound via a connected phone or tablet, like a little amp. The coolest part is that it has a strummable lever, and the moving fret-like control near the top works by triggering distance sensors that convert that into notes.
I tried for a third model, which is about as much as my limited time with Boost could afford. 180 steps in, I got the robotic head and torso of a cat. It actually follows a little cat toy and makes purring sounds. The kitten is as amazing as all the other creations, and it's hard to believe it came from the same bricks.
Taking apart each model to build a new one isn't easy, I found... emotionally, I mean. I wanted to hold onto my creation. I didn't want to start over. I wanted to preserve the pieces in their original numbered dozen or so bags.
I realized I was doing Lego wrong. I was attached to the little bags they came in. That guided me through the first robot, Vernie, but after that the set asks for pieces from all over the place...including the robot you just made.
Technical details: Boost uses six AAA batteries, and needs a phone or tablet to work. Battery life worked for about a week of heavy usage during this review. This is a more advanced level of Lego construction with lots of little connectors and a few wires, so it's this definitely not for preschoolers.
I love Lego Boost. It sucked me in, and its five or so main challenges are more than worth the price. Then there's all the extra stuff, which I've barely scratched the surface on: extra challenges, all the free-form block-based programming, and the chance to just take the Lego pieces and be creative.
This is a stellar collection of Lego fun for the price, even if the price seems high. I'd rather have this $160 kit than three $50 kits that aren't necessarily even robotic. Yes, you need a phone or tablet to enjoy Lego Boost. (And to that end, it would be great if Lego adds support for the Amazon Fire tablet line, which can be purchased for as little as $50.) But assuming you have that, this is like a more affordable Lego Mindstorms kit that younger kids can play with, too.
What's unique about our Summer STEM Camps? First of all, they're FUN! Our goal is to encourage and uplift our students, so we make sure every camp activity is ridiculously fun. Secondly, we're the only STEM camp that combines Inventing and 3D Printing with LEGO Robotics. We're also the only STEM camp that's taught by actual world champion robot-builders and technology teachers (all teachers have passed background checks). We have the best student:teacher ratio in the industry (6:1), and this one-on-one interaction with students helps us to customize camp activities to the skill level of individual students. Our students leave camp saying things like "this was the best day of my life!" and "I want to be an engineer!"
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