Robotics Week is our chance to explore and discover new ways to use all the robots we have available to us. This week, we take a crack at our newest addition, Wonder Workshop's "Dot & Dash" (https://www.makewonder.com/) These are two really cute robots that come ready to use right out of the box! There is no assembly needed. They come with several free apps and connecting the iPad with either via Bluetooth is a snap. Dot & Dash and their apps are rated for age 4 and above. While this is true, we have found these to be perfect for 1st & 2nd Graders.Here's a look at the apps:
"Go" - allows Dash to freely roam with a swipe of the finger. This app is perfect for those fun mazes, running races and creating shapes. When you add the 'scoop' attachment, Dash can move items all around. Our friends used the 'scoop' to sort items and do math games where they moved the answer into the right space."Xylo" - add the xylophone attachment to Dash and it plays a tune! We assigned letters of the alphabet to the colored tiles, then Students spelled out their name and could hear their 'name-song'! Very special for us all!
"Path" - draw a path and add sounds, then Dash will run the route and follow the commands. Dot will make the sounds, creating a neat exercise in sequencing. This is a perfect start to Coding as they must follow a sequence to level up to the next. "Blockly" - yet another perfect practice in programming. What I just realized is this tool is created by Google....no wonder it's a great tool! Students snap together blocks of code in the program and have the robots run the code! Challenging, yet fun! I rate this more for the older Student (2nd Grade)
Realistically, groups of 2 to 3 Students working the applications and setting the Robot on it's course is a good number. The practice of sharing and taking turns is a real plus.
