We recently checked in with Kirby Harder of Copley High School who shared the following account, detailing the progress being made with the Dobot Magicians in his engineering course.
This past week I introduced one of my engineering classes to the Dobot Magician and some of its functions. During this Lecture / Lab / Demo and individual work, students were able to complete Three Major Goals.
1. The first goal was to set up the DoBot and connect it to the computer both physically (USB Cable) and electronically through the Dobot Studio. This was a simple process that took approximately 10 minutes; it took more time to set the kids up with storage folders than to hook up the DoBot.
2. The second goal that we completed as a class was to get a quick basic understanding of the robot and how it moved and interacted with the software. For this part, we used the Teaching & Playback portion of the DoBot Studio software in which we remotely moved the robot with the controls in the software in order to gain a basic understanding of how the robot moved. We also used the teaching portion of the program to lead the robot by the nose to create a short program in which the students learned about loops, movement speed, and how to save and open a program. We were able to complete this task in 20 minutes or so because of the simplicity of the software and ease of use of the robot.
3. Our third goal was our most ambitious. By the end of the week, the students created a piece of artwork that included text, shapes and clip art that they downloaded from the internet. For this goal we used the Write & Draw part of the software, as well as the pen attachment on the robot. The first thing we did was learn how to home the robot and discussed why it is always the first thing to do before working on any projects. Second, we hooked up the pen tool to the arm of the robot. We then talked about the limits of the robot, the working envelope where the pen tool works as well as the real time movement / position on the screen. I then had the students write their name using the text tool and adjust its size and position. After that activity, we used the auto z to set the pen height and ran the program. The students picked this up quickly, so quickly that they figured out how to create shapes and insert clip art on their own. The biggest problem was making sure that we had the right type of clipart to import into the program. By the end of the week, the students created some really cool pieces of artwork and some even took what was drawn by the robot and filled in the image.
All in all, the introduction and operation of the Robots went smoothly. The students are engaged and want to tackle other activities and projects.
Pick-N-Place Lessons at Copley High
Check out Eng. Head at Copley High School, Kirby Harder's recent classroom update that details how Kirby utilizes version 2 of the "Introduction to Robotics" Curriculum for this weeks lessons on Pick-N-Place with the Dobot Magicians. First off everyone should update...
New Semester at Copley High School
Engineering & Technology Dept. Head at Copley High School, Kirby Harder is starting the year with new students who will be working with the Dobot Magicians in his engineering class. Kirby has shared more updates with our team on the progress of his robotic...
2019 In Review – Dobot
Wow, what a wonderful year it was for Dobot.us/IP Tech! In 2019 hundreds of schools added industrial robotic education into their schools with the Dobot Magician! The magician continues to be a powerful and affordable way for schools to provide a hand-on robotics...