Materials required
- Communicating with lights slides
- Otto Starter robot
- Computers with internet and/or Bluetooth connection
Optional materials
- Communicating with lights worksheets
Learning Objectives
- Identify the key components of a robot and explain their functions.
- Recognize robotic systems in everyday life and be able to reason about how they help.
- Know that robots use algorithms to perform tasks.
- Write and upload programs that control the robot.
- Modify an existing program to add new functionality to the robot.
- Understand key concepts of programming (loops, conditionals, variables, and functions) and apply them to write effective programs for the Otto robot.
- Identify the problem to be solved and develop a plan to address it using the Otto robot components.
- Use an iterative design process to improve the robot’s performance.
- Create a project that combines robotics with another creative discipline.
Lights to communicate
The teacher can start the class with a short conversation about how lights can be used to communicate ideas. Questions like “What do you think when you see a red light? And what about a green light? How do people interpret these light colors when driving?” can help to generate conversation about how lights and colors are used to express different things.
In the second slide there is a short explanation about the color lights component of Otto.
Activity: Exploring color lights blocks
Allow students to explore the first three blocks of the Color lights section of the word blocks app on their own.
📝 Students can use the Communicating with lights worksheets for an extra activity, writing down a description of how those blocks work.
ℹ️ Next, you will find a series of challenges for students to solve using Colored lights code blocks.
Intentionally, there is not a defined set of blocks to solve the challenges to encourage students to try different approaches while getting to know the different blocks to display lights available.
💬 What do these lights mean?
On slide 4, the teacher will ask the students: “What do these lights mean?”
The slide will display three examples of lights: (1) a traffic light, (2) emergency lights, and (3) the intermittent light of a car (indicating the intention to move to the left). This exercise encourages students to think about how lights can effectively communicate messages in a visual manner.
Challenge: Intermittent lights
In this challenge students must replicate the behavior of cars’ indicator lights using the color lights component. Students can tackle this challenge with different solutions: take the opportunity to encourage their creativity and analytical thinking in the process.
If students still haven’t used loop blocks such as Forever block or Repeat (n) times block, this is a great time to introduce these blocks to the class.
Possible solution: 8-1_intermittent-lights.otto
In this program, we use half of the color lights component to represent the sides (left and right). Each side blinks 4 times before switching to the other, which also blinks 4 times. This sequence then repeats indefinitely.
Students may explore other solutions by using different colors or creating different effects.
Challenge: Emergency light
In this challenge students must replicate the behavior of an emergency light as the one shown in slides. Since in the GIF it looks like the red light is revolving, a possible approach to tackle this challenge can be by using the cycle effect block with fast speed; but it is possible for students to bring new solutions using other blocks.
Challenge: Traffic lights
In this challenge students must replicate the behavior of traffic lights. Unlike the other two challenges, this one will require to students to consider two things about how traffic lights work:
- The order in which to change the colors
- The time in between changes
💬 On the last slide there are two different approaches to solve this challenge. This is a good opportunity to generate a quick debate about which approach is better.
The most optimal conclusion is that this one is the best option:
8-2_traffic-lights.otto
In this approach, the ring is split into three sections, each representing one of the light-dots in the traffic light. Additionally, since not all the LEDs are turned on simultaneously, this approach consumes less power than the other one. If students cannot reach this conclusion by themselves, the teacher can guide them through questions like: “Do real traffic lights use the same light-dot for all the colors?” or “Why does one of the algorithms do not turn all the lights on simultaneously like the other one?”
Expand Activities
If students already know how to code other components—such as the buzzer, ultrasonic sensor, or motors—feel free to expand these activities by allowing them to incorporate those components into their programs.
Lesson Evaluation
- Students discussed their interpretations of red and green lights and how these are used in traffic signals.
- Students replicated the behavior of car indicator lights using the color lights components.
- Students replicated the behavior of an emergency light as shown in the slides.
- Students replicated the behavior of traffic lights considering the order of color changes and timing.
- Students demonstrated an understanding of how Otto uses lights to communicate.
- Students exhibited creativity and problem-solving skills in completing the challenges.
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The duration of this lesson is approximately one hour. You can find the definition of learning objectives at the bottom of this guide to align with your curriculum requirements.
Materials required
- Lesson slides
- Lesson worksheets
- TV, projector, or big screen to display the class videos
- Big paper or cardboard (white)
- Tape (black)
- Scissors
Computers, tablets or smartphones are optional, they can be used as digital tools for students to do further research and take additional notes.
Connect
The class begins by displaying the first slide and asking the students “What do you see here?’“
[Pause and wait for students to provide answers, which may include mentions of a robot arm and two wheeled robots moving boxes].
The teacher will then guide the class in a conversation about the nature of robots, exploring questions such as: ‘What is a robot?’ ‘When does something turn into a robot and when is it just a machine?’
Moving on to the second slide, the teacher will introduce the topic of the usefulness of robots to humans. Students should share their ideas about how robots can be useful.
[This conversation is expected to last approximately 4-5 minutes]
Afterwards, on the third slide, the students will watch a video that explains the concept of what a robot is. Following the video, they will have the opportunity to share their personal experiences with robots. The teacher can guide the conversation by asking specific questions, such as: ‘Have you ever played with a robot or built one?’ ‘Do you have any robotic devices at home, like a vacuum cleaner, that you consider to be a robot?’
[The video has a duration of 4 minutes, and the discussion about personal experiences is expected to take an additional 3-5 minutes]
On the next slide, the teacher will organize small groups consisting of 2-3 students. Each group will be assigned a specific robot to investigate. The students can conduct their investigation by using the internet or through provided materials, either digital or physical. Some popular real-life robots for the students to explore are:
As a teacher, feel free to research other robots to add to the list. By the time you teach this lesson, there could be some new and popular robots.
During this activity, students will gather information about their assigned robot and gain knowledge about how robots are being utilized in daily life. At the end of the investigation, each group will give a brief presentation about the robot they investigated.
Here the students will use the first worksheet
[This activity is expected to take approximately 10-15 minutes in total, allowing sufficient time for research and presentations]
Make
On the fifth slide, the teacher will introduce the HP Otto robot by showing a video about its features and capabilities. After watching the video, the teacher will demonstrate a built robot to the students, showcasing its physical components and explaining how they contribute to its functionality.
[To further engage the students, the teacher can connect the robot to the Otto web control app, demonstrating how to operate and control the robot using the app’s interface.]
On the next slide, a diagram displaying the internal connections of the robot will be shown. Using the web control app, the teacher will demonstrate how each component of the robot works.
To engage the students, the teacher can actively involve them in the activity. For example:
- Buzzer: The teacher can play various sounds available on the app and ask students to suggest or choose which sound they would like to hear.
- LED ring: The teacher can ask students (up to a maximum of 12) about their favorite colors and display them on the LED ring.
- Ultrasonic sensor: The teacher can activate the avoidance function and make the robot move around the classroom. Students can participate by intercepting the robot’s path with their hands, observing how the robot changes its direction in response.
- Line sensors: Although the line tracking activity will be conducted later, the teacher can explain how the infrared sensors work at this stage.
In the next activity, the entire group will work together to define a racing track circuit for the robot to navigate. The teacher will guide the students in this process, but it is important to allow the students to make the decisions in order to foster their creativity and engagement. The goal is to define a circuit that includes specific landmarks or areas within the classroom for the robot to move around.
For example, the students may decide to start the circuit in front of the teacher’s desk, then describe a square around James’ seat, move in a zigzag pattern between Eva and Raidy’s seats, and finally return to the teacher’s desk. [To maintain efficiency, the teacher should encourage the students to make quick decisions, aiming to complete the circuit definition within 1-2 minutes]
[Optional]: As an additional challenge, the teacher can allow students to take turns controlling the robot and measure their individual completion times. This can add an element of friendly competition among the students.
The next activity is similar to the previous one, but this time the students will create a line track using ‘tape’ on a large white piece of paper or cardboard.
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