Family robotics

We are into our second week of robotics using the NXT micro controllers.  We are using this book and building (and programming) the robots to undertake 5 missions.  Each mission takes 3 sessions to complete.  Our first mission is to navigate a tunnel and wait 30 seconds on a pressure plate to activate a secret door.   One of the Dad's is an IT engineer.  He is teaching the kids how to program.  We have another fantastic IT engineer solving our technical issues! and the rest of us do the best we can to assist in understanding the building instructions in the book and finding parts!

Today was filled with many ah-hah moments as the children discovered what all the programming blocks do.   I enjoyed watching the dads spend time with their children.  Usually we are a bunch of moms with our kids.  Having the dads participate adds a whole new element that is great for for the boys.  It was a real family event.

Next week we finish programming the robots.  Then of course we will film them accomplishing the first mission and take a lot of photos before dismantling the robots for the next challenge. It was a lot of fun to watch the boys getting into it.  The more they learn about it, the more they are getting into it.