Robotics Kit

• Overview
• Screenshots
• Projects

Overview

The DevTech research group uses the Lego® Mindstorms® kit for most of its research on robotics and young children.

This is the most widely used robotic manipulative worldwide. It provides the advantage of engaging children with a well-known material, such as the Lego® construction bricks, and engages them in exploring new possibilities by adding controlled movement to their LEGO® creations. The Lego® Mindstorms® kit can be purchased with two different kinds of software: ROBOLAB™, which is sold by the educational division of Lego to schools, and Mindstorms® which is sold in commercial toy stores.

While Mindstorms® offers a quick way to start programming, the power of the programming language is limited. ROBOLAB™ provides scaffolding elements and several levels to help beginners, such as the Pilot levels, to more advance features in the Inventor levels. It also provides tools for data collection and analysis (Investigator level).

For more information on this visit the Center for Educational Engineering Outreach (CEEO) website.

Screenshots

Robolab program interface

Sample Lego Projects

Projects

• Project Inter-Actions: parents and very young children learning about robotics
• Robotics Programs : summer programs for young children and early childhood teachers
• Robotics Academy funded by the NSF
• Investigating the impact of engineering projects on first grade students' problem solving.