Maker Projects for Kids Who Love Robotics


Book Description

In this exciting title, readers will learn about basic robot components and how they are used to build various robots for different purposes. "Makers and Shakers" sidebars introduce the world's greatest robot designers and explain how they came to create their exciting inventions. Step-by-step Maker projects let readers put their skills to use as they build amazing robotic creations




Robot Building for Beginners


Book Description

“I wrote this book because I love building robots. I want you to love building robots, too. It took me a while to learn about many of the tools and parts in amateur robotics. Perhaps by writing about my experiences, I can give you a head start.” —David Cook Robot Building for Beginners, Second Edition is an update of David Cook’s best-selling Robot Building for Beginners. This book continues its aim at teenagers and adults who have an avid interest in science and dream of building household explorers. No formal engineering education is assumed. The robot described and built in this book is battery powered and about the size of a lunchbox. It is autonomous. That is, it isn’t remote controlled. You’ll begin with some tools of the trade, and then work your way through prototyping, robot bodybuilding, and eventually soldering your own circuit boards. By the book’s end, you will have a solid amateur base of understanding so that you can begin creating your own robots to vacuum your house or maybe even rule the world!




Bots! Robotics Engineering


Book Description

Hands-on STEM activities, essential questions, and coding challenges




Explore Makerspace!


Book Description

Bridges, furniture, musical instruments, games, vehicles—all of these things were invented and improved upon by people who love to put stuff together, take stuff apart, and figure out how things work! In Explore Makerspace! With 25 Great Projects, readers ages 7 through 10 explore what it means to be an engineer. They discover how inventors use science, art, and math to create new and exciting structures, games, and more. Readers also learn how to set up their own makerspaces at home, using inexpensive and easy-to-find supplies for their tinkering projects. Humans have been inventors throughout history. From the wheel to the rocket, scientists and other engineers have designed new technologies that have made daily life easier and stretched our horizons far beyond our own atmosphere. But inventions don’t have to be full of computer chips or other sophisticated parts. Designing the fastest toy car made from recycled materials can be just as thrilling! Makerspaces can be found in schools, libraries, community centers, and homes all around the country. These are places where both children and adults can work with materials and use the engineer design process to come up with new ideas. Here, imagination, art, and logic combine to produce lasting lessons in science, math, and physics. In Explore Makerspace! With 25 Great Projects, readers learn how to think proactively when faced with a challenge and discover the trial-and-error processes that lead to new discoveries. They find out about the motivation behind some of the world’s most amazing inventions. Through STEAM projects ranging from designing a bridge to creating board games and musical instruments, children discover how to be an engineer.




Doll-E 1.0


Book Description

A STEM-friendly tale of a girl and the doll she upgrades to be her new friend, for fans of The Most Magnificent Thing and Rosie Revere, Engineer. Charlotte's world is fully charged! With her dog at her side, she's always tinkering, coding, clicking, and downloading. She's got a knack for anything technological--especially gadgets that her parents don't know how to fix! Then, she receives a new toy that is quite a puzzle: a doll! What's she supposed to do with that? Once she discovers the doll's hidden battery pack, things start to get interesting...while her faithful canine sidekick wonders if he'll be overshadowed by the new and improved Doll-E 1.0! With a little ingenuity and an open mind, everyone can be friends in this endearing, modern tribute to the creative spirit of play.




Boost Your STEAM Program with Great Literature and Activities


Book Description

You've created a STEAM program in your library, but how do you work literacy into the curriculum? With this collection of resource recommendations, direction for program development, and activities, you'll have students reading proficiently in no time. Many schools and libraries are implementing STEAM programs in the school library makerspace to promote problem solving by allowing students to create their own solutions to a problem through trial and error. In order to enhance literacy development in the STEAM program, however, they need resources for integrating literature into the curriculum. In this collection of resources for doing just that, veteran education professionals and practiced coauthors Liz Knowles and Martha Smith bring readers over eight hundred recommended and annotated books and web resources, selected based on research on successfully integrating STEAM and literacy programs and organized by the five STEAM areas. Titles are complemented by discussion questions and problem-solving activities that will aid educators in both adding and using the best literature to their STEAM programs for encouraging learning. In addition to promoting literacy, these resources will help to develop creativity, lateral thinking skills, and confidence in students.




Robotics for Young Children


Book Description

Introduce young children to the building and programming of robots through playful, developmentally appropriate activities. Many early childhood professionals are unfamiliar with computer science, robotics, and engineering concepts. This user-friendly and accessible book gives teachers great ideas for engaging young children with 100 exciting hands-on computer science and engineering activities. The book can be easily included in a developmentally appropriate curriculum and offers a balance of adult-facilitated and child-centered activities. Ann Gadzikowski has more than twenty-five years of experience as a teacher and director of early childhood programs, and is the Early Childhood Coordinator for Northwestern University's Center for Talent Development and oversees the summer Leapfrog Program. Her book Creating a Beautiful Mess: Ten Essential Play Experiences for a Joyous Childhood won gold in the 2015 National Parenting Publications Awards.




Making Simple Robots


Book Description

Making Simple Robots is based on one idea: Anybody can build a robot! That includes kids, school teachers, parents, and non-engineers. If you can knit, sew, or fold a flat piece of paper into a box, you can build a no-tech robotic part. If you can use a hot glue gun, you can learn to solder basic electronics into a low-tech robot that reacts to its environment. And if you can figure out how to use the apps on your smart phone, you can learn enough programming to communicate with a simple robot. Written in language that non-engineers can understand, Making Simple Robots helps beginners move beyond basic craft skills and materials to the latest products and tools being used by artists and inventors. Find out how to animate folded paper origami, design a versatile robot wheel-leg for 3D printing, or program a rag doll to blink its cyborg eye. Each project includes step-by-step directions as well as clear diagrams and photographs. And every chapter offers suggestions for modifying and expanding the projects, so that you can return to the projects again and again as your skill set grows.




Arduino Playground


Book Description

You’ve mastered the basics, conquered the soldering iron, and programmed a robot or two; now you’ve got a set of skills and tools to take your Arduino exploits further. But what do you do once you’ve exhausted your to-build list? Arduino Playground will show you how to keep your hardware hands busy with a variety of intermediate builds, both practical and just-for-fun. Advance your engineering and electronics know-how as you work your way through these 10 complex projects: –A reaction-time game that leverages the Arduino’s real-time capabilities –A tool for etching your own printed circuit boards –A regulated, variable-voltage power supply –A kinetic wristwatch winder decked out with LEDs –A garage parking assistant that blinks when your vehicle is perfectly parked –A practical and colorful pH meter –A ballistic chronograph that can measure the muzzle velocity of BB, Airsoft, and pellet guns –A battery saver that prevents accidental discharge –A square-wave generator –A thermometer that tells the temperature using a sequence of colored LEDs Each project begins with a list of required tools and components, followed by the instructions, full sketch, and circuit board templates for the build, as well as directions for building a permanent enclosure. You’ll even find the author’s design notes, which are sure to provide inspiration for your own inventions. Gather your parts, break out the soldering iron, and get ready to take your Arduino skills to the next level with Arduino Playground. Uses the Arduino Nano and Pro Mini boards.




Making Simple Robots


Book Description

Making Simple Robots is based on the idea that anybody can build a robot! That includes kids, educators, parents, and anyone who didn't make it to engineering school. If you can cut, fold, and tape a piece of paper to make a tube or a box, you can build a no-tech robotic part. In fact, many of the models in this book are based upon real-life prototypes -- working models created in research labs and companies. What's more, if you can use the apps on your smartphone, you can quickly learn to tell robots what to do using free, online, beginner-level software like MIT's Scratch and Microsoft MakeCode. The projects in this book which teach you about electric circuits by making jumping origami frogs with eyes that light up when you get them ready to hop. You'll practice designing all-terrain robot wheel-legs with free, online Tinkercad software, and you'll create files ready for 3D printing. You'll also learn to sew -- and code -- a cyborg rag doll with a blinking electronic "eye." Each project includes step-by-step directions and clear illustrations and photographs. Along the way, you'll learn about the real research behind the DIY version, find shortcuts for making projects easier when needed, and get suggestions for adding to the challenge as your skill set grows.