Summer SAVY, Session 4 Day 3, “Coding and Robotics” (3rd-4th)
Today was all about autonomous driving machines! These lessons involved quite a bit of math, so I started the day by reading Count on Me by Miguel Tanco. This book introduced our first vocabulary term for today: trajectory. We also worked as a group to define “line.” Our unplugged activity helped students conceptualize the difference between the two terms. Each team created a geometric design made of three connected lines. They pushed a ball and recorded the trajectory of the ball. We came together as a group and discussed the fact that the ball could only follow one line at a time. Then, I gave each team three wooden blocks to represent steps/blocks of code. They placed the blocks strategically to stop the ball after it traced each line. At each block, they changed the direction of the ball by pushing it toward the next block. Students recorded observations, and we discussed the difference between the trajectory of the ball and the tape lines.
Students worked with their “Prime Team” to follow directions to build and program an autonomous driving machine. After testing the machine by driving on the tape lines from the unplugged activity, students added sensors to the machine. The sensors allowed the machine to detect and move objects. We connected this to the package moving robots at the FedEx headquarters. After experimenting with the machine and its sensors, students met with their toy company group. Each group brainstormed how autonomous driving machines could improve efficiency for their company. After listing ideas, each student sketched a design for a different autonomous machine for the company.
Our final Spike Prime project was the addition of a different sensor to the autonomous driving machine. The sensor detects lines and colors. Students modified the code to program their machine to detect a specific color. They created paths on the floor with colored tape. The automated driving machine detected a specific color and followed those lines. Students then modified their code to follow another group’s path.
For today’s career connection, we had a guest speaker. Dr. Barbour is a professor at Vanderbilt and also teaches for Vanderbilt Summer Academy (VSA). He talked to us about the technology he uses as a transportation engineer. Students learned about how traffic lights are programmed. Dr. Barbour explained the different types of sensors used to monitor traffic flow. Students saw diagrams depicting each monitoring system and a photograph of the computer that controls the traffic lights.
Home Connection Prompts:
- Ask your child to demonstrate trajectory by rolling a ball or a wheeled toy.
- Discuss the positive and negative aspects of self-driving vehicles.
- Ask your child to explain what inductive loop detectors are. (They are rectangular or circular sensors on the road’s surface at traffic lights that detect vehicles.) Look for them when you travel to SAVY in the morning!
