I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords
markmyers | January 8, 2017
My big Christmas present this year was a progammable, customizable robot from Makeblock called mBot. It’s a really cool, fully functional robot that can be programmed with Scratch, the visual computer programming application Sam and I have been using. I thought this would be a great way to bolster Sam’s interest in electronics and robotics while at the same time having a blast working on projects together. We started work on it virtually the day after Christmas, and haven’t stopped since.
One of mBot’s abilities is to follow a line. We started out by using the “track” that came with the robot (until Penny put a stop to our fun).
We tried the built in line follower again with our own line made with electrical tape and it worked really well. Of course, we had to hack it to add a cat toy to the back! At least it made it a fun spectator sport for Zach.
Here is mBot delivering a payload of precious popcorn to Sam which she found hilarious. If only it could do laundry too. . .
Of course, we had to install some upgrades. Now mBot has a servo to make his hand wave and some more LEDs to act as a roving flashlight. Now it just needs a gripper so it can get the multitude of cat toys out from under the couch…
