Welcome to the first of many blogs on robotics in education. Our technology team have put together a series of engaging and fun robotics projects that fit into the Australian Curriculum. Today, we are using the Fable Spin robot for our Robot Soccer project. You can find out more about this robot by clicking here. 

Fable

Introduction/Rationale

Okay, I taught my robot to move forward and in circles. Now what? Hmmm, Australia is a sporting nation. How about we teach the robot to play soccer?

Robot soccer is a good way to experiment with using the Fable Robot and to get our children to learn to code. Through international competitions such as Robocup, soccer has been used to research and improve the abilities of robots to move, coordinate and better visualise the ball.

Although it looks like computer geeks having fun building soccer robots, Robocup is actually a project designed to promote research in the area of intelligent robotics and artificial intelligence. The Robocup Federation oversees a number of leagues, including a junior league that is open to all students up to the age of 19 years of age. Robocup is an annual international competition that is staged in a different country each year.

But you don’t have to travel overseas – why not create your own classroom competition? Simply design and build your own soccer field and set up your own classroom or even school Robocup!

In the Classroom

We put together a big picture summary of how we would implement and teach this unit with Year 5 & 6 students. The table below goes through the week by week breakdown and is based on 1 hour per week for Digitech. 

Suggested Unit breakdown

Week 1. Investigation – 45mins
Using open ended questions students will look up relevant words and use them in sentences to describe how they will build and program their soccer robots.

Week 2. Build our soccer robots – 45mins
Using the Spin module and omni-directional wheel, students will build their soccer robots.

Week 3. Programming – 45mins
Students will be introduced to blockly and how to connect to their robots. They will program their robot to move the ball around using basic Blockly code.

Week 4. Reflection – 45mins
We will reflect on our code:
How can we make our code better?
Are there any problems with our original code?

Week 5. Implementation of Reflection – 45mins
Based on our reflections from last week we will test and trial different ways of programming our robots using blockly. Students will be encouraged to share what they have learnt: what worked and what didn’t work.

Week 6. Narrative – 45mins
Students will write their own story about a robot that wanted to be a soccer champion.

Week 7. Advanced Blockly Code – 45mins
We will introduce more complex blockly code examples that the students can then use with their own projects to improve their code.

Week 8. Field of Play – 45mins
The class will work together to design and build the soccer field for the Robot Soccer Tournament & Carnival.

Week 9. Dress Rehearsal – 45mins
This will be our last opportunity to test and edit code before week 10’s Tournament

Week 10. Soccer Tournament & Carnival – 90mins +
Time to show off and demonstrate our hard work in a fun and competitive environment.

Fable

Curriculum

 

Core Curriculum Content Descriptor Year Level
Digital Technology Design, modify and follow simple algorithms involving sequences of steps, branching, and iteration (repetition) (ACTDIP019 – Scootle ) Yr 5/6
 

Digital Technology

 Acquire, store and validate different types of data, and use a range of software to interpret and visualise data to create information (ACTDIP016 – Scootle ) Yr 5/6
Design Technology Select appropriate materials, components, tools, equipment and techniques and apply safe procedures to make designed solutions (ACTDEP026 – Scootle)  Yr 5/6
Design Technology

 

 Investigate characteristics and properties of a range of materials, systems, components, tools and equipment and evaluate the impact of their use (ACTDEK023 – Scootle ) Yr 5/6
Maths

 

 Solve problems involving division by a one digit number, including those that result in a remainder(ACMNA101 – Scootle ) Yr 5
Maths Use efficient mental and written strategies and apply appropriate digital technologies to solve problems (ACMNA291 – Scootle ) Yr 5
Maths

 Interpret and compare a range of data displays, including side-by-side column graphs for two categorical variables (ACMSP147 – Scootle ) Yr 6
English Understand that the pronunciation, spelling and meanings of words have histories and change over time (ACELA1500 – Scootle ) Yr 5
English Understand how to use knowledge of known words, word origins including some Latin and Greek roots, base words, prefixes, suffixes, letter patterns and spelling generalisations to spell new words including technical words (ACELA1526 – Scootle ) Yr 6
 

Science

 Identify, plan and apply the elements of scientific investigations to answer questions and solve problems using equipment and materials safely and identifying potential risks (ACSIS103 – Scootle ) Yr 6

If you would like to learn more about Fable, Robot Soccer and/or anything that we discussed above please feel welcome to get in touch with our STEM Education team here.