Resources

SOS coding

Students will explore Otto’s potential to simulate emergency scenarios by coding lights, sound, and motion. They’ll learn the significance of SOS signals and dive into programming their robots to mimic police patrols and ambulances.

Knowledge required

This activity assumes that students already know how to code motors, lights (ultrasonic or color lights) and buzzer components.

Materials required

SOS coding slides

Otto Starter robot or only the circuit board with the required components

Computers with internet and/or Bluetooth connection

Optional materials

SOS coding worksheets

Learning Objectives

Understand the fundamental concepts of robotics.

Identify the key components of a robot and explain their functions.
Describe the difference between sensors and actuators and how they interact in a robot.
Recognize robotic systems in everyday life and be able to reason about how they help.
Know that robots use algorithms to perform tasks.

Learn the basics of coding with Arduino boards and block-based programming.

Write and upload programs that control the robot.
Understand key concepts of programming (loops, conditionals, variables, and functions) and apply them to write effective programs for the Otto robot.

Apply computational thinking skills to design, build and code a functional robotic system.

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.

Integrate robotics with creative disciplines to explore new forms of expression.

Create a project that combines robotics with another creative discipline.
Explain how the project demonstrates the potential of integrating technology with the chosen discipline.

SOS Signal

Start the lesson by asking students if they know what the message SOS is. After receiving a few ideas, in the next slide there is a simple explanation about it. Feel free to extend the explanation with new information from sources such as Wikipedia.

💡 SOS was created as a Morse code signal, this lesson could also be a good opening to talk about this type of code. In the SOS coding worksheets, you will find an activity to engage students with Morse code knowledge.

Activity: police patrol

Challenge students to make their Ottos to act as a police patrol. The only requirements are:

the robot must move around (it could be in a forever loop or doing a determined route with an ending)

one of the light components (ultrasonic or color lights) must flash intermittently blue and red.

In the text of the activity slide there is a question ´Could it also sound like a police car when it detects something? This is introduced as an extra challenge for students who complete the activity quickly, to continue exploring the idea of including sound and sensor detection to their code.

Some pieces of code that can help complete this activity are:

Police lights in eyes

Police lights ring

Police siren sound

Random movement

By combining and/or modifying these small programs, you can create a single program that makes Otto move by simulating a police patrol.

See the example in the 13-1_police-patrol.otto file as a reference for a possible combination.

Activity: ambulance

Challenge students to make their Otto’s to act as an ambulance. The only requirements are technically equal to the police patrol:

The robot must move around (it could be in a forever loop or moving in a fixed route)

one of the light components (ultrasonic or color lights) must revolve around like an emergency light.

In the text of the activity slide there is a question ´How can your robot know when it reached its destination? This is introduced as an extra challenge for students who complete the activity quickly, to continue exploring the idea of including sensor detection to their code.

The main code for this activity can technically be the same as the one used for the police patrol, simply changing the way the lights work. Instead of making alternating changes between blue and red, to simulate the ambulance, we can quickly turn the pixels (small LEDs) of the light components on and off.

With the color ring, we can simply use the cycle effect block with the red color and fast speed:

Although in this case, our robot will not be able to perform other actions such as moving and sounding while carrying out the light movement animation.

With the eye lights, we can also turn each LED of each eye on and off independently to create that light movement effect.

To know when the robot has reached its “destination,” we could place a dark-colored mark on the ground and use the line sensors to stop the motors when detecting the dark-colored mark. We could use a condition like this:

See the example in the 13-2_ambulance.otto file as a reference for a possible combination.

Lesson Evaluation

Students successfully coded their Ottos to simulate a police patrol.

Students successfully coded their Ottos to simulate an ambulance.

Lesson objectives were achieved as students successfully programmed Ottos to simulate emergency scenarios using lights, sound, and motion.

The teacher confirmed that students understood the significance of SOS signals and were able to apply their coding skills creatively to mimic police patrols and ambulances.

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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.