Code your Bot (Early Childhood Education Toy)

Early childhood is a wonderful time to spark kids? interest in coding, robotics, and engineering. This is possible when children are given tools that are developmentally appropriate, that encourage open-ended play and that allow the integration of technical skills with expressive arts, math,

Project Title

Code your Bot (Early Childhood Education Toy)

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

• Early childhood is a wonderful time to spark kids’ interest in coding, robotics, and engineering. This is possible when children are given tools that are developmentally appropriate, that encourage open-ended play and that allow the integration of technical skills with expressive arts, math, literacy and cultural explorations.

•  Kids learn by doing. To learn programming and engineering, they need materials designed in the spirit of traditional learning manipulatives in early childhood. Children engage in playful learning, explore problem-solving, and understand concepts such as sequencing, cause-and-effect, programming, sensors and motors.

• Children think and learn best when moving, playing, building, and engaging with concrete objects. Traditional coding is often screen-based and abstract. But with a coding robot, children’s code affects the physical world – the robot moves and reacts based on the instructions the children give it. 

• This“Code your bot; ECE (Early Childhood Education) TOY” can introduce STEM concepts to them in a playful way, thereby encouraging them to be excited about further exploration in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. It provides an age-appropriate way for kids to learn robotics and coding in a fun and creative way, whether in the classroom or at home.

• This bot offers an inviting, engaging platform for children to start their journey into creating with code. Instructional Blocks coding language gives children control over the robot’s movements. 

 

How does it teach coding?

• Algorithms - Sets of precise instructions that form a program. Coding blocks are a physical representation of an unambiguous instruction that children can touch.

• The Queue: Instructions are executed in a precise order. On the Board, instructions are put together that represent a command line.

• Debugging: The instructions are laid on the board, and are immediately executed by CODING TOY so when he doesn't arrive where he should, fixing mistakes is as easy as swapping a block.

• Recursions: Create a subroutine by "packing" a sequence in the function line, and call it in the queue with a blue block when you need it. Make long sequences shorter and more elegant, like in the real world.

• Infinite Loops: Insert a function block in the function line and watch the Coding bot go loopy.

Another feature of the project is that the Interface board takes input in two formats; either a card is placed in front of it for a better spelling learning experience using an LCD display or the Real-time Virtual Painting experience with hand gestures for drawing anything and eventually learning anything.

Project Objectives

The gadget is a great resource for the education industry. Early Childhood Education can be made more effective with the use of different kinds of educational toys that are useful for teaching kids about various topics especially emotional intelligence as the teachings in the early years of the child are the most long-lasting and other foundational concepts can also be delivered for example coding, STEM, and problem-solving, etc.

 *From 3+ mode, Children can learn the concept of flow-based programming & principles of algorithms.

* From 6+ mode, Children can effectively learn with their partner which helps in remembering and reviewing spellings, shapes, or different objects like fruits, animals etc due to the interactive interface. 

Overall, the project is able to create an impact in the Early Childhood Education sector in Pakistan which is currently ignored.

Using Technology to Breakdown engineering Stereotypes:

Scientific and technical fields suffer from a gender participation gap. Research shows that even in early childhood, children are already beginning to form opinions and stereotypes about which tools and technologies are better suited for boys. By engaging children in coding and robotics activities before these stereotypes begin to take root, we can help them build positive associations with technology and engineering and a self-image as a creator of technology.

Project Implementation Method

3+ Execution 

Each block (left, right, forward, function) has a fixed resistance value. Upon insertion of block in the interface board a particular value of Voltage is obtained (voltages fixed for each direction in Arduino IDE) Microcontroller checks the input value and matches with the predefined value for the specific direction Now, through ESPNOW the observation transfers to the Microcontroller on the bot which then operate according to the received data in sequence, this makes the bot moves in the respective direction. 

6+ Execution 

Python code executing on Raspberry Pi for object detection from the camera installed at interface board and another for spelling learning using an LCD display. 

Spell Learner feature description:

The student places a flashcard in front of the camera. With the help of Tesseract OCR library, the Raspberry pi will know what is written on Flash Card, and then it will pronounce the spelling of the object 3 times. This will be done with the help of the text to speech library.

 Virtual Painting feature:

The virtual painting detects the hand with the help of the Hand tracking Module. Furthermore, the module detects the hands with the help of landmarks on the hand. There are 20 landmarks in our hands.

Benefits of the Project

“Code your bot; ECE (Early Childhood Education) TOY” can give youngsters practice of computational thinking, recognising patterns, sequencing, measurement, and map skills. With some creativity, the robot can lead the children to storytelling, making projects, and maths exploration.

There are some basic steps to problem-solving that incorporate the project:

• Identify the task.

• List the possible solutions.

• Choose a solution to try.

• Evaluate the solution.

What makes the Coding bot suitable for Montessori?

• Non-prescriptive - It gives children the ability to solve problems within the world they create. This gives them the freedom to express their creativity and aptitudes, unconstrained by the challenges of literacy, or the distractions of a screen.

• Child-centred - All they need to get started is a nudge in understanding that blocks = actions. After this point, the child can lead even the discovery of what each block does, leaving adults to observe and only help when needed.

• Auto-didactic - Solving problems with the blocks is about trial and error. Once a sequence is sent to the bot, the result is immediate and non-abstract, giving children concrete grounds on which to self-correct without adult intervention. Just change the blocks and go again.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The BOT contains:

ESP 12E Module

Resistors

Capacitors

PCB

FTDI module

Headers/Connectors

Two micro-switches

Motors driver (L293D)

B.O Motors with wheels

Interference Board:

Multiplexer IC

PCB

Magnets

Nickel tapes

Spell Learner feature is made up of:

Raspberry-pi 3B model

Pi camera

Speaker

(3.5) inch TFT touch screen

 

The Interface Board (acts as the controller) contains:

On the top of the board, there are 16 holes where children can place blocks. 12 out of 16 holes are used for sequential programming, whereas the remaining 4 are functional programming. Moreover, the children have to program with the help of blocks. There are 4 types of blocks available they are as follows:

Right

Left

Forward

Function

The total number of blocks available is 16, 4 of each type. Furthermore, each block is distinguished from another by the help of the value of the resistor. The circuitry included in the interface board is the ESP 12E module and multiplexer. ESP 12E is used as a Microcontroller, whereas a multiplexer is used because we have only one analogy pin in ESP 12E. The dimension of the interface board are as follows:  

Length=16 inches (11.5 inches for the slots and 4.5 inches for the LCD and camera placement)

Width =9.70 inch 

Height = 3 inch 

 

Bot: 

After finishing programming, students will press the button on the interface board. The interface board will send the sequence selected by the student to the bot with the help of wireless communication protocol(ESPNOW) available in the ESP 12E module. The circuitry involved in the bot is  ESP 12E and L293D(Motor Driver). The dimension of the bot are as follows:

Length=4.50 inch 

Width =4.50 inch 

Height = 3.50 inch 

Instruction Blocks:

Insertion part (1*1 inches)

Spell Learner feature description:

The student places a flashcard in front of the camera. With the help of Tesseract OCR library, the Raspberry pi will know what is written on Flash Card, and then it will pronounce the spelling of the object 3 times. This will be done with the help of the text to speech library.

 Virtual Painting feature:

The virtual painting detects the hand with the help of the Hand tracking Module. Furthermore, the module detects the hands with the help of landmarks on the hand. There are 20 landmarks in our hands.

On the top of the screen, there will be a menu of different colours. As the student points their index finger, it will go into selection mode. When 2 fingers (The index finger and right finger ) are shown to the camera, it will shift to drawing mode. 

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Education

Other Industries

Core Technology

Robotics

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Quality Education, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com