Robot Making Gets Real For Elementary School Kids

MASTIC BEACH, NY — John S. Hobart Elementary School students got up close and personal with real-life robots recently.

The kids had the opportunity to work with cubelets – magnetic blocks that snap together to become different types of robots that require no programming or wiring, the district said.

Cubelet-based robots have the ability to move around on tabletops, respond to light, sound and temperature, and exhibit surprisingly lifelike behavior, the district added.

“Through the lessons introducing students to robotics, students learned that robots ultimately do what people program them to do,” said Renee Dolan, John S. Hobart Elementary School librarian. “The students explored the function of each cubelet and how when they put the pieces together, they get a reaction.”

Each Ccbelet is an 8-bit computer, which means that when they are snapped together in a robot construction, they form a computer network, a release explained.

According to the district, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts with cubelets, and they have the ability to demonstrate “emergent behavior,” a natural phenomenon observed in ant hills, flocks of birds and schools of fish.

Dolan said her goal is for her students to view the John S. Hobart Library as a collaborative learning environment – “a place where they can think, explore, create and grow their ideas based on what they learn from each other,” she said. The project set the foundation for future lessons on computer coding using Blockly, a visual basics coding language designed to teach beginners how to code.

The cubelets were used on loan from Eastern Suffolk BOCES through a partnership with the School Library System. Dolan said she has plans to borrow the cubelets again and work with students to create a computer code that will control the robots they build.