Lesson 2 - Sensing the World - From Signals to Data¶
At a glance
- Summary: This lesson teaches students the fundamentals of how robots sense their environment and convert those signals into useful data.
- Duration: 90 min
- Robot use: building
Download resources¶
Slides¶
Worksheets¶
Build videos¶
Blossom Robot - Build Intro Video - Watch on YouTube
Lesson 2 - Building Blossom's Head - Watch on YouTube
Lesson overview¶
Lesson Plan¶
- Lesson 1 Recap - 5 min
- Sensors – 15 min
- 2.1 From Human to Robot Senses
- 2.2 Types of Sensors
- Language of Machines – 30 min
- 3.1 Control Process in Humans and Robots
- 3.2 Electricity (off/on)
- 3.3 Bits and Bytes
- 3.4 (Spelling in) Binary
- 3.5 Optional extension: Binary beads or Counting in binary – 15-30 min
- 3.6 Programming Languages
- Building Blossom’s head - 30 min
- Survey - 5 min
- Summary - 5 min
Learning objectives¶
After this lesson, students will be able to
- explain the function of sensors in robots and other machines,
- identify different types of sensors and what each one senses,
- describe the control process sequence in robots and other machines (sensor input → computer with code → motor → movement)
- describe how computers use 0/1 (off/on) to represent information,
- encode and decode a short word using a binary code chart,
- understand what programming languages are.
Evidence of learning (success criteria)¶
- I can explain what sensors are used for inside of robots and other machines.
- I can name three different types of sensors and what they measure.
- I can outline the order of processing inside the Blossom robot that is needed to turn environmental input into an action. (input → sensor → computer with code → motor position → movement)
- I can describe how computers use electricity to communicate information with off- and on-states (0/1).
- I can encode and decode a short word in binary using the class chart.
- I can explain that programming languages are a human-friendly way to write instructions that computers can understand.