Robotics with Robo Dynamics

Over the last weekend, the boys attended a Robotics workshop held by Robo Dynamics. This workshop focused on 2 robot toys -- Dash&Dot and Cubelets.

Dash & Dot are essentially a pair of robots-- Dash, being a one-eyed 3-legged thingamy and Dot, being an.....eye. Yup! Their major draw is the ease of programming. These robots are programmed using any tablet and the commands are very easily understood. The boys had tinkered with these in previous workshops so they already had a basic knowledge on the workings and were able to get into the flow very quickly.

Cubelets consists of a bunch of cube shaped objects, which can be connected to each other. Each cube is embedded with different sensors and adds a specific function to what you are attempting to build. 

I liked how the instructors engaged the kids, through story telling. The kids were drawn into an adventure story and then encouraged to design a robot with functions to help them get through different scenarios.

Most importantly, the kids had fun and are asking for more.

Earth Day 2016

 

About 2 weeks ago, J brought home a school notification for us to submit a 3D art piece using recyclable materials. I had big plans, but NATO (no action talk only). And then J came down with a viral fever lasting almost the entire week so neither of us were in much of a mood for brainstorming and crafting. Made this super simple craft using egg cartons. I cut, he paint. Easy peasy and quite cute too,  right? K came back from school, took a look and said "So lousy!"....but then came back 5 mins later and told me quietly "Make 1 for me too." RIIIIIIIGHT!

So ANYWAY, J came back from school  yesterday telling me of the elaborate pieces his classmates had submitted and I felt a teeny bit bad for not making more of an effort this year. So although I hadn't originally intended to make him a recyclable costume for Earth Day tomorrow, I decided to do something at the very last minute. Ta-dah! Meet Captain J-Hook! 

 

Craft supplies used: Newspaper, white paint, black marker, plastic cup, ice-cream stick, aluminum foil.  

To blog or not to blog...

I've been procrastinating forever on whether or not to start a blog. Technically, I've had this space up and running for some time but have not had the 'calling' to start it off.

I wanted to start blogging (again, because I previously maintained 2 other blogs) to keep track of stuffs I'd done with the kids because I finally realised it was hard to search back on past events in facebook.