Home-made Robotic Education, a new way to explore
Pedro Plaza Elio Sancristobal, German Carro, Manuel Castro
Plaza Robotica
Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain
pplaza@plazarobotica.es
Abstract— Robotic Education is becoming very popular these
days. Simple robots are being used within STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education as a
powerful tool which eases the way to teach STEM knowledge.
Additionally, Robotics also provide an attractive manner to
transform boring concepts into an amusing learning process.
Along this paper, a new way to use robotic is presented. Instead
of using robots in classrooms or remote laboratories, the proposal
is to use robots at home. Currently, there are some alternatives
on order to introduce educational robots at home. Along this
article, Crumble is presented as a tool which can be used with the
aim of deploying STEM knowledges at home joining adults and
children.
Keywords— Robotic;, Education; STEM;
I. INTRODUCTION
Robotic Education is becoming very popular these days.
Simple robots are being used within STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education as a
powerful tool which eases the way to teach STEM knowledge.
Additionally, Robotics also provide an attractive manner to
transform boring concepts into an amusing learning process.
Robotic kits facilitate the ease with which students can make
connections among STEM disciplines [1].
Technology is scaling day by day and it is entering more
and more into our daily life. Internet, social networks,
connectivity and mobile devices lead us to an increasingly
connected world, which has generated a major change in our
way what humans are relating and communicating. This hyper-
connected scenario is affecting relationships between
individuals and it is introducing new opportunities and new
challenges [2].
The Internet and video games is commonly used by
childhood New generations get better and better with the
technology, that they get to use it almost by instinct and that
they handle a wide technological knowledge at an early age.
This phenomenon can be both positive and negative. In one
hand, technology eases the communication process with new
channels which bring people closer in a digital manner with
solutions such as skype, WhatsApp and social networks. On
the other hand, these new ways of communication create a
dependency which reduces the physical communication
activities.
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2017 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON)
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Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Spanish University for Distance Education (UNED)
Madrid, Spain
elio@ieec.uned.es, germancf@ieee.org,
mcastro@ieec.uned.es
The aim of this paper is to propose a tool which ease the
learning process in a STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math) educational context at home. This is
intended to be done in order to provide a communication
channel between parents and children.
Nowadays, there are lots of solutions. Although these
solutions usually are expensive or they have not enough
documentation in order to be used by parents and children
joined in the same activity. Crumble can provide an ease and
cheap way for learning, enjoying and communicating during
home-made educational robotic sessions.
This paper is divided in five sections. Section II presents
different Crumble as a simple and powerful STEM tool.
Section III details a learning session using Crumble to
introduce robotics to adults and children joined. A discussion
related to the exposed content is provided in section IV.
Finally, the last section summarizes the achieved conclusions
after the performed investigation. Moreover, Section V
includes some proposed activities with the aim of moving
robotic education to homes,
II. CRUMBLE, SIMPLE AND POWERFUL
The Crumble is an easy-to-use programmable controller. Its
programming interface uses a block programming language
which eases its use by children aged below 14 [3]. Educational
robotics can be implemented easily with it due to the board
connectors. Motors and servos can be managed by Crumble.
Additionally, different sensors can be connected to it such as
ultrasound distance sensor, infrared distance sensor and line
detector sensor. Furthermore, Crumble is able to manage up to
32 RGB (Red, Green and Blue) LEDs (Light Emitter Diodes)
independently and using 16 bits’ color resolution.
Fig. 1 depicts a mounted Crumble robot kit example. This
robotic platform includes the Crumble controller, two DC
(Direct Current) motors with wheels, an Sparkle, a battery
holder with an integrated switch, different mechanical elements
and cables to connect electrically the components.
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Fig. 1. Mounted Crumble robot kit.
A. Crumble Hardware
Crumble controller is a board which includes the following
characteristics [3]:
x Two input power ports hardwired internally which
can be powered with a voltage level from 4.5 to
5.5 V DC (Direct Current). These ports are
marked as POWER in the PCB (Printed Circuit
Board) with their polarity (+ and -).
x One USB Type-C port used to program.
x Two output ports that can control DC motors up to
1 A DC. Motors can be managed in both
directions. Additionally, the motor outputs can act
as high power outputs for many types of device.
These ports are marked as MOTOR DRIVERS 1
and 2 in the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) with
their polarity (+ and -).
x Four input or output ports which can be used as
analogue or digital ports. These ports are marked
as A, B, C, and D in the PCB (Printed Circuit
Board).
B. Crumble Software
No programming experience is required a graphical, drag-
and-drop system inspired by MIT Scratch software is provided
freely [3].
The programming interface is a block programming software
which is divided in three zones: program start / program stop
buttons, commands panel and programming panel. Fig. 2
shows a snapshot of Crumble software. A simple program is
included too.
The depicted program is intended to:
1. Wait one second from the startup.
2. Move the two motors straight.
3. After one second, turn the Sparkle in the selected
color.
4. Wait other second.
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Fig. 2. Crumble software snapshot.
There are six commands groups: Basic, Input/Ouput,
Sparkles, Control, Variables and Operators. Each category
contains related commands [3].
Basic group provide commands for moving motors, use
Sparkles in a simple manner, commands to make waits and
basic control commands.
Input/Output group presents commands to manage the
board’s inputs and outputs: output digital control, motor
control, status of a digital input, status of aa analogue input,
servo control and sampled distance from an ultrasound sensor.
In Sparkle group, commands to turn on and of the Sparkles
can be found. This can be made for all connected Sparkles and
for one of them. The Sparkle’s color can be selected from a
color palette or from their red, green and blue intensity. The
color intensity can be set to a value within 0 to 255 scale for
each color.
Control group allows the use of wait commands. If, if-else
and loops statements can be found in this cathegory too.
Variables and operators can be also combined with other
commands in order to build complex and powerful programs
for the robot.
C. Connecting devices to Crumble
Port D is able to manage up to 32 Sparkles independently
when the Sparkles are serialized. Sparkles are LED boards
which contains a red, green and blue primary colors. Crumble
controller can independently manage up to 32 Sparkles and
using 16 bits’ color resolution [3].
Furthermore, servo motors can be managed by Crumble
controller. The servo control signal has to be connected to A,
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B, C or D ports. Up to four servo motors can be controlled at a
time.
Moreover, ultrasonic distance sensor sample values can be
read by Crumble board.
Finally, a line following module can be connected to two of
pads A, B, C and D on the Crumble.
III. ADULTS AND CHILDREN AS STUDENTS
A small educational robotic workshop was performed with
the aim of getting information about how adults and children
can be joined within a group. The session was held in the shop
El Baúl de Alexandra [4], an art and craft shop located in
Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain.
The session lasted four hours where basic concepts about
robotics were put into practice using Crumble as robotic
educational platform. The group was formed by four teams.
Each team was composed by an adult and a child in pairs.
Adults were aged from 35 to 45 years and children were aged
from 8 to 13 years. For programming purposes, four laptops
were used. Furthermore, a wide table was used in order to get
space for participants and their laptops and the robots’ test
field. During the session, the group was working with motor
control, line following sensor, object detection sensor and color
lighting.
Before the start of the session a small query was filled by
participants. The aim of the survey was getting which were the
participants’ knowledge about robotics. Fig. 3 depicts the result
of the survey.
Fig. 3. Initial survey results.
After the survey, the small workshop started. In first place,
two concepts about robotics were defined:
x What robotic is?
x What robots are?
Before answering the above questions, participants were
asked in order to know what they know about robotics and
robots. Robotics was defined as science related to machines,
programming. Several examples of robots were exposed too.
Cooking robot, vacuum robots and other familiar robots
watched on films or news.
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For the first question, the following answer was provided:
Robotics combines mechanics, electricity, electronics and
computer science with the purpose of designing and building
robots.
For the second question the following answer was
provided: Robots are programmable electromechanical
machines that include sensors to make decisions and adapt to
different situations.
A box with the robotic kit was provided and participants
were invited to open the box and discover the different
elements that were inside the box. The elements were: A
Crumble board, a battery holder, motors, wheels, a Sparkle, a
line following sensor, infrared distance sensor, screws, nuts and
an USB (Universal Serial Bus) Type-C cable.
Once all elements were identified and described the
mounting process began. Participants made the mounting
without any guidelines. The teacher only answered doubts. In
this way, the teacher was leaving the participants the
opportunity to discover what and how had to be mounted. Fig.
4 shows a step of the mounting process carried out by one
team.
Fig. 4. Mounting process.
The four groups were able to have the robot mounted. After
that, the programming stage commenced. In first place,
Crumble software was explained: the command groups, where
the commands were and where the programming canvas was.
The next step was making a program which moved the motors
and hence, the robot. The instructions were:
x First step: Open Crumble.
x Step two: Add "Program start".
x Third step: Add motor control 1.
x Fourth step: Add motor control 2.
x Fifth step: Add 1 second wait.
x Sixth step: add stop of motors.
The proposed activities for motor control were:
1. Move the robot in a straight line and go back to
the starting point.
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 2. Move the robot in a straight line, turn right and
move back in a straight line.
After robots were programmed and were moving along the
robots’ test field new instructions were provided in order to
include the infrared line following sensor:
x First step: connect the left infrared sensor to port
A.
x Second step: connect the right infrared sensor to
port B.
At this point a simple explanation about the infrared line
following sensor was provided. Additionally, some
clarifications about input ports and how they were used when a
program is being made were provided too.
The practical exercise was: Make that the robot follows a
black line on a white background.
Once robots were programmed and were following the line
along the robots’ test field new instructions were provided in
order to include the Sparkles. Again, simple explanation about
the Sparkles were provided. The instruction in that moment
was: Connect the Sparkle to port D. And the proposed activity
was: Make a semaphore with the Sparkle.
The last introduced element was the infrared object
detection sensor. A simple explanation about the infrared
object detection sensor was provided. The instructions were:
x First step: connect the cable to the infrared
distance sensor.
x Second step: connect the red cable to the + port.
x Third step: connect the black wire to the port.
x Fourth step: Connect the yellow cable to port C.
The proposed activity was making blink the Sparkle with a
frequency proportional to the distance measured by the infrared
object detection sensor.
Once all elements were presented and explained; and the
participants were familiar with the robot and the programming
software, the following more complex activities were
proposed:
x Build your own line following circuit.
x Program the robot to detect your hand and follow
it when it moves away.
x Program the robot so that it detects another robot
and does not clash with it.
At the end of the session, other small query was filled by
participants. The aim of the survey was getting the participants’
opinion about the session, about the robot kit which robotic
knowledge area they preferred.
The first question was: What do you liked more? Answers
were: the robot, the class was very entertained, many results in
a short time, program the sparkles (two responses), the
possibilities of the robot, program and test, the line following
and the tests and mounting the robot.
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The second question was: What do you liked less? Answers
were: I do not keep it, lots of information in a little time,
nothing because all is fine (four responses), the rush and
programming several times.
The third question was: What was simpler for you?
Answers were: screw and turn it on, the mounting (four times),
understand the operation and the mounting, answering the
surveys and the programming.
The fourth question was: What was more complex for you?
Answers were: the mounting (two times), make the infrared
object detection sensor works, use of variables in
programming, programming (two times), think and connecting
the cables.
The fifth question was: What area or areas of knowledge
related to robotics (mechanics, electricity, electronics and
computer science) do you like more? Fig. 4 depicts the
responses.
Fig. 5. Responses to preferred areas of knowledge related to robotics.
At the end of the small workshop all participants were
satisfied with the session, the content and the things that they
were capable to do.
IV. DISCUSSION
The obtained results from the educational robotic workshop
demonstrate how adults and children can share experiences in
the same classroom. Adults and children can complement their
knowledge and creativity. Robotics drives easily two different
generations in an STEM educational context. Mechanic is
smoothly performed by adults while block programming is
easily implemented by children.
As exposed in the workshop description, adults and
children were paired. When they were paired the budget was
reduced because one laptop was shared by then. Furthermore,
the robotic platform was shared by them too. Hence, a
collaboration between the pair members is required. From the
collaboration some competences such as communication and
teamwork.
On the other hand, while adults and children were sharing
the same session at home, parents and children has the
opportunity to be in contact more time. Nowadays, due to
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parents’ worktime and children’s extracurricular activities, the
time which parents and children can be together has been
reduced. Other advantage from bring robotic educational to
home is increasing the time which parents and children can
share their free time.
Finally, attending to knowledge from parents and children
about robotic, they need simple materials which can be used
easily with a short setup time. The material has to be very
visual and attractive. The findings acquired along this
experience has being included into a doctoral thesis; a novel
approach to collaborative robotic educational tool is being
developed.
V. CONCLUSSIONS
Along this paper, a new way to use robotic is presented.
Instead of using robots in classrooms or remote laboratories,
the proposal is to use robots at home. Currently, there are some
alternatives in order to introduce educational robots at home.
Along this article, Crumble is presented as a tool which can be
used with the aim of deploying STEM knowledges at home
joining adults and children.
An Open Hardware platform that can be used in classrooms
with aim of developing educational programs related to
robotics in a collaborative environment which promotes
innovation and motivation for students during the learning
process [5]. The platform which is being developed presents
wirelessly connections such as Bluetooth a WiFi as
enhancements [6]. This research contributes the development
described in [7]. The doctoral thesis is being carried out in the
Engineering Industrial School of UNED (Spanish University
for Distance Education) and the Electrical and Computer
Engineering Department (DIEEC).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors acknowledge the support provided by the
Engineering Industrial School of UNED, the Doctorate School
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of UNED, and the “Techno-Museum: Discovering the ICTs for
Humanity” (IEEE Foundation Grant #2011-118LMF).
And the partial support of the eMadrid project
(Investigación y Desarrollo de Tecnologías Educativas en la
Comunidad de Madrid) - S2013/ICE-2715, IoT4SMEs project
(Internet of Things for European Small and Medium
Enterprises), Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership nº 2016-1-IT01-
KA202-005561), and PILAR project (Platform Integration of
Laboratories based on the Architecture of visiR), Erasmus+
Strategic Partnership nº 2016-1-ES01-KA203-025327.
The authors are also thankful to El Baúl de Alexandra and
the participants mentioned in section III due to their
collaboration.
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