Teachtopia teaches robotics

The Blockly App for the Dash and Dot Robot

Coding with blocks is an engaging way for students to learn many fundamental principles of coding.

There are several types (categories) of blocks that we use in Blockly to give the robot instructions. When we learn coding it is important to know that the robot was designed to execute the instructions given to it. The more intricate the instructions, the more exciting it is to see the Dash in action. We have created this guide to give you a brief tutorial on the purpose of each category. When you are ready to code, we encourage you to do our Coding Challenges for Dash and Dot using Blockly

The Categories

The Start Category of Blocks

The Start Category of Blocks are green. They are often essential to the beginning or ending of a program. The are also used to call upon a function. A function is a group of blocks that are put together to form a specific task. For example, you could create a function to make a square. (forward 50 turn right 90 four times).

The Drive Category of blocks.

The Drive Category of blocks is essential for the movement of the robot. Note that wheel forward and backwards movements are measured in the metric system (centimeters). Left and Right Movements are measured in degrees with 360 being a full circle 180 being a half circle 90 being a quarter of a circle etc.

The Look Category of Blocks

The Look category of blocks refers to where the robots head is going to look. This is one of the very interesting set of blocks because the looks to voice command is great for having the robot interact with the human by looking towards the voice.

The Light Category of Blocks