Christmas Lesson - Winter Olympics: Skiing Marty
Lesson Overview
In this lesson, students are tasked with creating a cross country skiing robot using Marty where they will need to design and build skis and code Marty to slide along the table to win gold at your robot winter olympics. Students will need to consider how Marty moves to influence the design of the skis and poles.
- Skiing, Functional , Prototype , Design, Olympics,
Content Sections
Christmas Lesson - Winter Olympics: Skiing Marty
Lesson Overview
In this lesson, students are tasked with creating a cross country skiing robot using Marty where they will need to design and build skis and code Marty to slide along the table to win gold at your robot winter olympics. Students will need to consider how Marty moves to influence the design of the skis and poles.
- Skiing, Functional , Prototype , Design, Olympics,
- Lesson 1.13
- Laptop, PC or Tablet
- Technologies/Sciences/Numeracy
-
- Marty the Robot
- Access to compatible devices connected to Marty on Scratch/Python
- Cardboard/paper/materials to make skis and poles
- Cello-tape/bluetac to attach skis to Marty
- Scissors
Learning Objectives
- Design and build skis for Marty that are functional and fit for purpose
- Evaluate ski designs to improve the prototype
- Code Marty to slide along the table by breaking down the individual movements
1. Reveal today’s topic as the Winter Olympics with a class discussion on what kind of sports they think are involved in this and what sports they think that robots could possibly do
2. Show students the video from the world’s first robot ski tournament and discuss whether they think Marty could do this
3. In small teams, students are tasked with designing and building some skis and poles for Marty along with the design criteria that they should fit Marty and be functional for skiing along a table (students may find it useful to do some research into what skis and poles typically look like)
4. Once students are happy with their first prototype, discuss how Marty should move to ski - they might want to think about how they broke down the walking command in Lesson 1.13 and what they would change to code Marty to slide instead of step
5. Encourage students to test out their design and programs and make changes to their designs afterwards
6. Near the end of the lesson, bring all the student groups together to test out their designs in a small race and a discussion on what kind of designs work well and what doesn’t work well
Extensions & Support
- Could you add a small incline for Marty to ski down? (Technologies/Sciences)
- What other winter sports could we code Marty to take part in? Curling? Ice hockey? (Technologies/Literacy)
- How could you use less lines of code in your skiing program? (Technologies/Numeracy)
Additional Reading
- Marty the Robot Educator Guide
- Educator FAQ
- Video of the World’s First Robot Ski Tournament