Robotic Animal

ROBoTIC

Animal Project

START

INDEX

INDEX

01

Day 1 Tasks

Discover Kit

Set Up Kit

02

03

Motors

05

04

LED Lights

Sensors

06

Extra Resources

07

Tutorial Playlists

09

Examples

08

Project Timeline

10

Reminders

11

SECTION 01

DAy 1: LED Lights

Objective:

MakeCode Coures

• Can you code your hummingbird so that you are able to have the LED single and multi lights blink?

Today's Tasks:

• become familiar with all of the parts in the hummingbird kit
• learn how to assemble your kit
• learn how to code the single LED to blink
• learn how to code the multicolor LED light
• learn how to add a pause block to adjust the spe

Discover Your Kit

Video 1

Our mission at BirdBrain Technologies is to inspire deep and joyful learning in all students through creative robotics. We are excited that you are joining us in making robotics accessible to all students through this course! Before we begin to program our Hummingbird Robotics Kit*, it may be helpful to ask yourself… What is a robot? We define a robot as a machine that senses its environment, thinks about it, and then reacts. Can you think of some sensing, thinking, acting machines that you have interacted with today?

Set Up Your Kit

Video 2

Makecode

Set Up With computer

All programming languages have different advantages. The primary advantage to MakeCode is that you can download your code directly to the Hummingbird Bit and the code will run without assistance from any other device. This video will teach you how to set up your Hummingbird Bit to program in MakeCode.

+ Learning Portal

+ Makecode Link with Hummingbird Extension

+ Quick Links

+ Makecode Link

LED LIghts

+ Learning Portal

Video 3&5

+ Makecode Link

Single color

blinking tri-color

Troubleshooting

+ Info Single Color

+ Info Blinking Tri-Color

Mixing Colors

Motors

+ Learning Portal

Video 7&8

+ Makecode Link

Position Servo

Build Pages

+ Info Position Servo

+ Info Build Pages

Troubleshooting

Sensors

+ Learning Portal

Video 10 & 11

+ Makecode Link

Light Sensor

Dial Sensor

+ Info Light Sensors

+ Info Dial Sensor

Troubleshooting

Extra Resources

This course was designed to teach you what you needed to know to get started with the Hummingbird Bit in your classroom. There is so much more you can do with the Hummingbird and so many more resources we can offer to help you go further!

FAQ Tech Support

+ LED Screen

+ Rotation Servo

+Buzzer

+Button

+Compass

+ Accelerometer

Examples

Tutorial Playlists

Makecode Tutorial Playlist

Building Techniques

Project

TIMELINE

Final Days

Day 1

Day 3

Record video.Check Design Notebook Tear down robot.

Discover Kit/ AssembleSingle LED Light

View Examples Plan your robot.

Day 2

Day 4 +

Build and code your robot. Log design notebook.

Tri-Color LEDMotors Sensors

Project

Reminders

Bring in your cardboard boxes and materials

1. Bring Cardboard

Log your progress after each day in design notebook. Take a screenshot of the code and explain what activity was done.

2. Log progress in design notebook daily

Record a video of your group showing how your robot works, challenges, inspiration of creation, if you had more time what you would do.

3. Record your final video

Position Servo Hack (video 8)

Why is my servo motor not responding or not responding as expected in MakeCode?

The servo horn is the little piece of plastic that fits on the servo shaft. Don’t be afraid to hot glue items onto it! When you add a unique design to the servo horn (a robot arm, a sail boat, an eyeball, etc.), it quickly transforms from a servo into your personal robot.

View/modify the program that was used in this video

Servo Building Hacks

As you are plugging in your single color LED, make sure the colored wire (green, red, or yellow) is plugged into the + side of the port, and the black wire is plugged into the – side of the port. As you are coding, double check to make sure the port number on the screen matches the port on the Hummingbird controller where you plugged in your LED. Once you get your LED blinking, what in your code will need to change to get that LED blinking faster?

Directions for Creating Single LED Lights

It is important to remember that when programming a position servo motor, the angle is constant. In other words, if you program your position servo to go to 90°, the servo will move to 90°, then stop. The position servo will not move again until you instruct it to go to a new angle. Remember how you gave the single color LED two commands to alternate between 0% and 100%? Similarly, you must give the position servo at least 2 commands. Pick your favorite angles between 0° and 180°.

Move a position servo motor using these easy-to-follow video instructions

Move a position servo motor using these printable coding cards

View/modify the program that was used in this video

Remember, a robot is a machine that senses, thinks, and acts, so a sensor is a critical component within any robot. When plugged into a Hummingbird Bit, a sensor is constantly gathering data, and the trick is to put that data to work. In this video, we show you a few ways to use and visualize sensor data.

Program a sensor using these easy-to-follow video instructions

Program a sensor using these printable coding cards

View/modify the programs that were used in this video:

Nesting

Show Number

Conditional

This module will show you how to use a dial sensor as an input with the Hummingbird Bit. A dial sensor is a component that collects data based on how much you rotate the knob. The range of the dial sensor is 0 to 100.

Dial Sensor Tutorial Steps

Hummingbird Learning Portal (replaces Get Started)

Set up your device for MakeCode using these easy to follow instructions

Go directly to MakeCode WITH the Hummingbird Bit blocks added

When learning the Hummingbird Bit, a lot of time is dedicated to programming and connecting components, but knowing how to build and engineer with craft materials is just as important. Our Build pages were designed for you to get started with simple designs, but also to help you take your simple designs a bit further.

Build instructions for all of the hacks, simple robots, and mechanisms can be found on the Hummingbird Build Page

You can better mix and diffuse the LED light with a translucent material, for example with a packing peanut or a styrofoam ball. Even a white napkin or a piece of cloth would do the trick! This is a great time to experiment not only with your code, but with some of the translucent materials you have around your classroom.

Directions for Mixing Colors (Video 6)

View/modify the program that was used in this video

Take a closer look at the tri-color LED hack and other building hacks on our Build Page

The same pattern you used to blink a single color LED will also allow a tri-color LED to blink between its different colors: red, green, and blue. Now that you can program the individual colors, can you mix those colors to create colors like purple, turquoise, and yellow?

Directions for Blinking Tri-Color LED Lights