Project:Rho

Rho, play/learn/hack

Problem

Kids often like the thought of playing around with robots but neither them nor their parents know where to start. Described in more detail on my blog, others have also identified this as a way of getting children engaged in engineering/programming/electronics such as the The AFRON "10 Dollar Robot" Design Challenge

Solution?

A little robot that can be programmed easily, needs to be reasonably cheap, attractive and expandable.

Why?

The more senses you use the easier it is to learn something, programming on the screen/mobile can be exciting but for a 9 year old getting a feedback in the physical word is much more exciting.

Concept

hardware

• a chassis
• interchangeable skin
• 2 dc motors with optical encoders
• ir range switch
• speaker
• pen
• aruduino shield interface
• wireless module (nRF24L01+)
• battery pack
• dongle for PC (nRF24L01+ + vUSB capable AVR, can possible be used as a docking station)
• ability to use with other Arduino Shields to expand functionality

software

• based on a graphical programming language Scratch
• possibly using S4A (Scratch for Arduino)

• ideally Raspberry Pi compatible
• ability to use with other Arduino IDE to expand functionality
• ROS drivers for more advanced users