We Do WeDo
Scratch version 1.4 has special programming blocks to interact with motors and sensors in LEGO WeDo robotic creations. As a part of a course that Mitch Resnick is teaching this term at MIT Media Lab (and I'm TAing), we asked the participants to create a story that combines on-screen and off-screen, using LEGO WeDo and Scratch.
To get them started, Mitch did a brief demo of the WeDo and Scratch, showing some of the key blocks and a sample project about a friendly (but misunderstood) alligator. We created a miniguide (which is available on ScratchEd) and linked to a series of WeDo building instructions.
The participants worked in teams of 2 or 3, and they ended up producing a wide variety of imaginative projects. Here are some photos and videos of the projects that the participants created:
Submarine Rescue (Project attached)
Balancing Robot (Project attached)
King Duck vs. Fatman Protagonist (Project attached)
More documentation of the project is available here.
Caterpillar Love Story (Project Attached)
Skiing Moose
Ferris Wheel (Project attached)
Other projects included a hand drum (project attached), a roaring lion, a dinosaur love story, homework capers, a hug machine, and a flight controller.
Hi, Karen! Where is the skiinig moose project? I love it.
Hi Robin,
It's one of my favorites too. :)
Unfortunately, I can't find the original project -- I'm so sorry to not have access to it anymore!
K
Do you know who created the balancing robot ? I want to make this into a tutorial topic at http://scratch.redware.com and want to credit them. My balancing robot is great !
Thanks.
It was created by three students from the Personal Robots research group at MIT Media Lab: Ryan Wistort, Jin Joo Lee, and David Robert.
The balancing robot is amazing ! Was that with Scratch ! Can we have some more information on this project ?
I have the Wedo connected up to Scratch no problem at all - except that the tilt sensor only works in one direction when it has the capability to work in several.
Some great ideas here... Thank You.
Yes, the balancing robot was created with Scratch. I requested the project from the creator and posted it (above).
Dear Karen,
Hi. What are the qualifications needed to join this course? It sounds so interesting. Do you conduct such a course for people like us online? If not, is it possible to post the readings online so that I can source for the books and materials and try to follow along?
Thanks.
Have a wonderful new week!
Best regards,
Ai Boon
The course is offered to MIT (and affiliated) students. Unfortunately, there isn't an online component at this time. You can check out the course at http://mas714.media.mit.edu