Coding simple robots by Anja Petelin

Operating the Optical Robot

anja_petelin — 2025-04-15 12:05:38 UTC

Children explored working with an optical robot. First, they named the robot. It was given the name Bing Bongs. Then, they discovered how to turn it on. Once they managed to power it up, they investigated how it moves (if no line is drawn, it moves in circles). They compared its movement on a blank sheet and on a sheet with lines.

Operating the Optical Robot 2

anja_petelin — 2025-04-15 12:07:02 UTC

Each child then received a blank sheet of paper and drew a line on it. We compared how the robot moved along the lines and explored what kinds of turns it was capable of. After that, the children received new sheets of paper where the start and end points of the line were marked. They drew their own lines, and then we connected the sheets into one long sheet with a continuous line.

Operating the Optical Robot 3

anja_petelin — 2025-04-15 12:08:02 UTC

We used this long sheet to create a story about space and a robot traveling through it. Each child drew a part of the story on their sheet. Then the robot followed the line from beginning to end while the children told the story—each sharing their part as the robot passed over their drawing. They presented the story to the group of children who had been working on the grid activity.

Introduction to mTiny robot

anja_petelin — 2025-04-15 12:24:11 UTC

We invited the children to assemble the mat on which the robot would move (like a puzzle). We showed them the robot and explained how it works. The robot operates with the help of a pencil (remote control) equipped with an optical sensor that recognizes the mat. We control it by touching arrow codes with the pencil, and the robot moves across the interactive map. On the map, it recognizes various icons (cake, bed, etc.) and responds with different sound and light signals.

anja_petelin — 2025-04-15 12:24:38 UTC

Coding mTiny robot

anja_petelin — 2025-04-15 12:25:50 UTC

We showed the children the arrows, demonstrated how the pencil works, and introduced them to different masks the robot can wear to take on the roles of different animals. We did not yet present the more advanced functions (such as the piano, drawing tool, etc.). The children had the opportunity to try guiding the robot across the grid themselves.

Robot mTiny – Introductory Coding, Codes, Path to the Goal

anja_petelin — 2025-04-15 12:27:15 UTC

We divided the children into two groups, each working with one robot. The children chose a starting point—one of the animals the robot can transform into. Then we assigned them a goal: the bathroom, house, food, bed, ghost, carousel, etc.

The children had to create a code. First, they placed the arrows directly on the board (grid) to better visualize the path, and then they arranged the arrows into a code beside the board. At first, they placed the arrows separately (with spaces) and touched them one by one, so the path wasn’t continuous. Later, they connected the arrows into a complete path and touched them in one continuous sequence. This allowed the robot to complete the entire journey in one go.

Afterward, the children began choosing their own goals freely, creating codes, and learning through trial and error.

anja_petelin — 2025-04-15 12:27:44 UTC

Afterward, the children began choosing their own goals freely, creating codes, and learning through trial and error.

Introducing BeeBot

anja_petelin — 2025-04-18 05:16:07 UTC

We introduced the BeeBot robot to the children and showed them how to operate it. They learned about all the symbols and tools used to work with it. Then we divided the children into 4 groups:

Group 1&2: mTiny

anja_petelin — 2025-04-18 05:17:35 UTC

Two groups were working with the mTiny robot, independent exploration (guiding to the target, road, sound signals, etc.)

anja_petelin — 2025-04-18 05:17:48 UTC

Group 3: BeeBot maze

anja_petelin — 2025-04-18 05:18:57 UTC

Anoter group was working with BeeBot robot – navigating through a maze. The children created a wooden maze on a grid, along which they guided the robot. We gave them various challenges in the maze, which they solved.

Group 4: BeeBot coding on grid

anja_petelin — 2025-04-18 05:20:31 UTC

Last group was also working with BeeBot and moving it on a grid. The children guided the robot across the grid to different points. They placed arrows alongside and wrote down the code. We added obstacles and various pictures representing the goals.

Christmas game with Bee bot

2025-05-16 19:03:09 UTC

Guide Bee Bot to the correct color

2025-05-16 19:05:33 UTC

Guide Bee Bot to the right planet

2025-05-16 19:08:41 UTC

mTiny challenge: Police on the mission

anja_petelin — 2025-06-30 11:23:05 UTC

ChatGPT je rekel:

The children individually tackled the following challenge: Based on the plan on the worksheet, they assembled a grid. On it, they found the shortest path from the police station to the crime scene. Then they used arrows to create a code and guided the police officer along the track. The robot’s sound signals told them whether they had solved the challenge correctly. We adapted the challenge from the robot’s user manual according to the children's prior knowledge and age.

Worksheet 1

anja_petelin — 2025-06-30 11:23:43 UTC

mTiny: What is my favourite food?

anja_petelin — 2025-06-30 11:47:51 UTC

The next challenge also involved mTiny. The child assembled a grid following the instructions on the worksheet. The mTiny robot has the ability to take on the roles of different animals, each with a different favorite food. The child had to guide the robot (in form of different animals) across the grid to determine which food each animal preferred and record the results in a table.

Worksheet 2

anja_petelin — 2025-06-30 11:48:28 UTC

Worksheet 3

anja_petelin — 2025-06-30 11:51:37 UTC

BeeBot Challenge: Mystery boxes

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 05:00:29 UTC

The child had the task of guiding the BeeBot across the grid to all the sound boxes (TTS recording buttons), which contained audio instructions for solving a puzzle. They had to follow the sequence written on the worksheet. For example, the instructions specified which colors to use to color the shapes on the worksheet.

BeeBot Challenge: Maze

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 05:02:45 UTC

Child had to guide their BeeBot throught the maze from starting to end point.

Worksheet 3 part 2

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 05:04:21 UTC

Worksheet 4

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 05:05:37 UTC

mTiny Musician

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 06:11:08 UTC

Children explored piano function of mTiny. First they tested commands and sounds. They followed instructions on worksheet and played a known childrens song. Later they had the task of composing their own music and to write down code that included notes.

mTiny Musican

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 06:11:38 UTC

mTiny Musican

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 06:11:56 UTC

Writing with mTiny

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 06:13:49 UTC

mTiny also has a function of writing letters. Children explored the commands and wrote down their names. Next they had a task of finding all the letters of a phrase and write it down.

Writing with mTiny

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 06:14:09 UTC

Playing CodeMonkey game

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 11:04:02 UTC

For our final activity we played CodeMonkey game as a group on big screen and learned about loops.

CodeMonkey

anja_petelin — 2025-07-01 11:04:16 UTC