Knowledge required
This activity assumes that students already know how to code color lights and the buzzer using webcode.
Materials required
- Expressing emotions slides
- Otto Starter robot
- Computers with internet and/or Bluetooth connection
Optional materials
- Expressing emotions worksheet
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.
- 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.
How can robots express emotions?
Start the class with a small debate about this question. This debate can be as simple as allowing students to give ideas about how they would make their robot to express emotions or even talk about topics like the uncanny valley and how this affects the expressing features of robots.
Unboxing the components
As your first activity, you can do an unboxing/review the Otto Starter Kit box. This will help you make sure every student has all the required components to complete this lesson but also to build Otto in a future lesson. After checking we have all the components, ask your students to only keep out of the box the electronic components to test them.
Find emotions in video
As an optional activity, consider watching this video of Otto and asking your students to identify one or more emotions expressed by Otto in the video.
Activity: Expressing emotions
In this activity, students will be tasked with associating an emotive sound with a color and then with coding the components to play the sound and display the corresponding color.
For instance, the happy expression in the circle could be expressed with a code like this:
In this circle it is possible to see the name of the expression being represented. The ones on the slide don’t have the names as a mini challenge for students to figure out what each expression is.
If students are already familiar with the color lights and the buzzer components, this should be a straightforward activity. However, the real challenge lies in dealing with emotions such as anxiety and fear. As there are no default sounds to represent these emotions, the teacher will encourage students to be creative and design their own sounds to express these emotions in a robot. This exercise will foster their imaginative and problem-solving skills, adding a unique touch to their robots’ emotional expressions.
To create the sounds of these emotions, encourage students to combine multiple blocks to play musical notes from the blocks available in the sounds section:
Possible solution for the challenge: 9-1_emotions.otto
Here is a preview of the code:
Extra activities
If the activity results interesting for your students, consider exploring an extra challenge such as:
- Expressing extra emotions. Are there other emotions that we humans can express? Invite students to think about it and code color and sound for that extra emotion.
- Creating a new emotion. For more creativity, invite your students to create a new emotion. It could be individual or as a group activity.
💡 Generative AI (like ChatGPT or Claude) could be a great tool to discover create new emotions that don’t exist. And a nice opportunity to introduce students to these fresh tech tools. Giving a simple prompt like “Invent a new emotion, associate it with a color and explain how a sound would be used to represent that emotion”, students can create something new and start coding it with color and sound.
In the 9-1_emotions.otto file we include an example of a new emotion called Ecliptic:
- The emotion a robot feels when it’s caught between curiosity and overload — when it senses something fascinating but too complex to fully process.
- It’s the edge between fascination and static — the “wow–wait–what–hold on” sensation of data awe.
- To a human, it would feel like watching a mesmerizing glitch: part wonder, part short-circuit.
Lesson Evaluation
- Students actively participated in the debate, sharing ideas on how they would make a robot express emotions.
- Students successfully associated emotive sounds with colors to express emotions.
- Students demonstrated creativity and problem-solving skills, especially when coding emotions like anxiety and fear where default sounds were not provided.
- Students showed a clear understanding of how to use both color lights and the buzzer to express emotions simultaneously.
- Teacher observed the successful integration of both technical skills (coding lights and sounds) and creative expression (emotional interpretation) in students’ work.
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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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