https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom Made with lots and lots of patience || ECI 721 Project 5 - Yahboom Robot en-us 2020-10-13 16:23:40 UTC 2025-12-08 12:19:24 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f62c.png mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825582863 The first step was to lay out all of the materials and read through the directions. At first I was a little taken back by the lack of directions. I felt that it did not go into as much detail as I needed.]]> 2020-10-13 16:25:44 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825582863 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825610732 After trying to read and follow the directions I knew I was going to need more assistance. I went to youtube and found a video I could follow along with. Truthfully, I have never been great with putting things together and knew this was going to be a challenge for me.]]> 2020-10-13 16:31:48 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825610732 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825621942 Immediately from the start, I struggled. The nuts and screws were so small they were falling all over the place. I tried so many different methods to get the nuts to stay in the motor bracket. I think I spent more time on the ground searching for all of the pieces that fell. Ultimately a tweezer helped force the nuts into the motor bracket.

I cannot imagine middle schoolers or elementary schoolers putting this together. It was frustrating enough for me as an adult.]]> 2020-10-13 16:33:31 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825621942 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825637809 Attaching the wheels was relatively easy as they just fit on the edges of the motor. However, I was afraid that I was going to break something from how hard I had to force it. At this point, I was so happy that it was finally starting to look more like a thing that could move. It took about 30 mins to get to this point as I struggled with the nuts in the motor assembly. ]]> 2020-10-13 16:36:56 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825637809 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825651008 I saw the small screws and nuts again and immediately groaned in frustration...I was not looking forward to this struggle again. As a teacher, I thought I had a lot of patience. I learned today that the patience is only for humans and not for robots. After struggling for 20 minutes and still not being able to get the universal wheel on I thought of putting a piece of tape on the nut to keep it in place. This made thee eprocess SO easy and I was done within minutes. I still feel like that small of screws and nuts are unnecessary but found a solution to the problem.]]> 2020-10-13 16:39:40 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825651008 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825663682 I was so happy to reach this point as it meant I was almost done with the assembly. This was the easiest part of the assembly as the nuts and screws were bigger. ]]> 2020-10-13 16:42:29 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825663682 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825696083 This was extremely challenging for me. Overall, it took me an hour and a half to assemble the robot.

I cannot imagine students doing this themselves due to how small the screws and nuts were.

I also cannot imagine being a STEM teacher and having to build multiple of these...I know that once they are built they are good to go forever but still seems like a large amount of time needed to just make one.]]> 2020-10-13 16:49:42 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825696083 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825715179 These steps were super easy and I would leave them for students to do. It would give students a sense of accomplishment even if they did not build the entire robot.]]> 2020-10-13 16:53:58 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825715179 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825810674 I was excited to finally get the robot working. ]]> 2020-10-13 17:14:41 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825810674 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825841939 It took me sometime to understand where I was supposed to input the URL but once I figured it out I was ready to use the Yahboom smart car with the microbit editor.]]> 2020-10-13 17:21:11 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825841939 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825981362 This was very easy to code  since we have used the coding block before.

I looked around on the website and if I was to assign this to students in elementary school I would rewrite or create cards for the students. The directions make sense but could be written in an easier to read format.]]> 2020-10-13 17:40:40 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825981362 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825988032 This coding required a little more work. On the website with the directions I prefer to look at the the final code rather than taking it step by step. The step by step directions somewhat confuse me as some of the coding blocks are different now.

I used the duplicate button for this code which made the coding faster. ]]> 2020-10-13 17:41:49 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/825988032 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826015541 I messed around a little more with the adjust a speed coding. I tested the different speeds and figured out which one I liked best. Now that I am feeling more comfortable with the Yahboom and the micro bit coding again, I plan to customize the next few codes.

**Also works really well as a cat toy!**]]> 2020-10-13 17:47:37 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826015541 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826046547 I had the most fun with this code. After trying the code they gave, I decided I wanted to do my own song.

I found the notes for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and programmed those. I also changed the starting icon on the micro:bit to a star.

I have no experience with music but I chose a music sheet that gave the note but not the beat. I had to read the music to make sure the notes and the beat sounded right in the micro:bit. I can see students wanting to recreate their favorite songs. This would be a great way to use the robot and coding in music class.

I did have one problem with the car falling backward. However, when I slowed the speed down this did not happen anymore.]]> 2020-10-13 17:54:09 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826046547 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826173860 I was looking forward to this code as I thought of all the different ways it could be used in the classroom.

When coding for some reason my robot only wanted to go straight it did not want to follow the loop.

I tried and tried again, however, it would never follow the track. My code was identical to the combined blocks given. I tried the track in different lights to see if it was too dark but that wasn't it either.

If I could get this to work, I think it would be so cool to set up a track in the hallway and have multiple robots from the class going at once. ]]> 2020-10-13 18:22:53 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826173860 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826239874 My code vs their code]]> 2020-10-13 18:39:01 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826239874 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826252092 This one was easy and fun to code.

I wanted to customize it by making a high pitch sound when the robot ran into the obstacle. I also changed it so that the robot would turn red. I think the speeds that the website gives are way too fast. I used the 100 speed given but it worked better when I brought the speed down.  

I think this could be used in a STEM classroom for a wonderful activity. You could have kids create an obstacle course and then code their robots to work through it. ]]> 2020-10-13 18:42:08 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826252092 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826299293 Video of the avoid obstacles]]> 2020-10-13 18:54:50 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826299293 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826305537 Overall, I really enjoyed the coding and yahboom robot. The assembly was a lot and I would not have students do that entire process.

The project would have been a lot easier and quicker if I had used the downloaded code. However, I felt a sense of pride when I was able to code it and be the one responsible for the robot's actions.

If I were to use this in class, I would have students download the code for the first time using the robot. However, after that I would have them follow the steps and write their own code as that makes it more interactive and challenging.]]> 2020-10-13 18:56:38 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826305537 mjmeado2 https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826320520 I downloaded the code to see if it would work. It worked perfectly with their code! The only difference I had was that the start icon was a square rather than a smiley face. I can't imagine that resulted in my code not working...]]> 2020-10-13 19:01:01 UTC https://padlet.com/mjmeado2/yahboom/wish/826320520