Download free "Robot Inventor - Absolute Beginner's Guide"
LEGO-51515-Fun-Scratch-DrG2.com-July-2022-ED2 (pdf)
DownloadOur tiny "TAZ1" Robot
Often "Absolute Beginners" get stuck when starting with robots. In the eBooklet above, we show you how to build and use "Scratch" code to make little Robots do what you want them to do. .
The following videos are used in the Scratch eBooklet. We hope to add more tutorials and videos as we have time. The bottom of this web page also contains the start of an eBooklet that was originally planned to look at converting from Scratch to Python.
LEGO Robot Inventor 51515 Video Tutorials
1. Robot Inventor compatible?
This video shows a way to test if the LEGO 51515 Robot Inventor set is compatible with your computer equipment.
2. Unboxing
What is contained within the LEGO Robot Inventor 51515 set?
3. Updating your LEGO Hub.
This video shows you how to update the LEGO Robot Inventor's computer brick ("Hub") with LEGO's latest version of its firmware.
4. Build your first Robot..
The aim of this tutorial is to build a very small LEGO Robot that we can make quickly. A quick build means that we can have fun coding much sooner. Let's start!
In this build, I use pieces from the LEGO Robot Inventor set. If you have a LEGO Spike set, you will have the same pieces, but they will have different colors.
5. Teaching your LEGO Inventor 51515 Robot to move
In this video we demonstrate how to run Scratch connected to our Robot via USB, Scratch connected to our Robot via Bluetooth, Python connected to our Robot via USB, and Python connected to our Robot via Bluetooth. If these work, we can start on larger code projects with the confidence that the computer and Robot setup is very likely to be correct.
6 (Scratch). Approaching An Alien!
This is the first "Absolute Beginners" Challenge for our LEGO 51515 Robot. We imagine that an Alien Ambassador has arrived on Earth. Since we are uncertain if the Alien is warlike, we will send a robot to investigate.
But how to communicate with an Alien? We look at what is probably the most alien animal on Earth, and compare it to us. We then demonstrate how to approach the Alien (hopefully) safely, get a bit concerned, and retreat in panic!
6 (Python). Approaching An Alien!
Similar to 6 (Scratch) Approaching an Alien", except that the computer language Python is used.
7. Adding Wheels to TAZ1 Robot.
This video demonstrates how to add two small wheels to the back of your TAZ1 Robot.
8 Going Around the Moon - Overview
This is the second "Absolute Beginner's Challenge" for our LEGO 51515 Robot. We imagine that our Robot is a spaceship whose mission is to loop around the Moon and land safely back on Earth.
9 (Scratch) Going Around the Moon - Challenge
How could we teach our Robot to go "Around the Moon"? It is up to you to experiment and teach your robot to go Around the Moon yourself, and land safely back on earth...
10. Sample Run
TAZ1 is sent on a sample run "Around the Moon".
11. "Cleaning The Floor" Overview.
In this challenge, our pretend “floor” is divided into squares, and to “clean this floor" our Robot must pass over each square. Go to "Updates/Printable Downloads" for a sample Arena.
More LEGO Robot Inventor 51515 Video Tutorials
12. "Cleaning the Floor" tutorial
In this video we carefully show how to teach your TAZ1 Robot to clean the pretend floor.
13. Adding a Color Sensor.
If you have downloaded the PDF booklet shown at the top of this web page, pages 32 to 34 are a guide showing how to add this sensor to TAZ1. When we have added the color sensor to TAZ1, we can use this sensor to teach our Robot how to stop when it reaches a line.
14. Playing Robot SUMO!
In this tutorial we show you how to teach your LEGO Robot Inventor 51515 Robot to Play SUMO using Scratch Code. If you are not in a classroom, and you do not have another Robot opponent, you can try pushing some toys out of the ring.
15. TAZ1 Follows a Colored Line (Method 1)
Teaching your robot to follow a line, all by itself, without you steering it, is one of the very first steps in teaching your robot some “artificial
intelligence”.
16. TAZ1 Follows a Line (Method 2)
This is called a “zig zag” or “bang bang” line follower method, that was widely used in student robot competitions featuring the older LEGO EV3 and LEGO NXT robots. It has the advantage of allowing an expert student to “tune” their robot’s “line following” performance to suit an individual competition arena, but has the disadvantage of requiring many trial runs to optimize the numbers used in the code.
17. TAZ1 "Approaches an Alien" using Python.
In this tutorial we look at using the Computer Language Python and Bluetooth, instead of Scratch to "Approach The Alien". This tutorial assumes that you have already completed our "Approaching an Alien" Scratch tutorial, as it builds on this to step onwards to Python. Python is a more advanced coding language than Scratch and is widely used in Industry.
Download the Pre-Alpha "Robot Inventor" Python eBooklet
I was diverted off this project almost as soon as I had started it - and then LEGO cancelled sales of the "Robot Inventor" set, leaving the status of Python uncertain. I leave this here to remind myself that this is a worthwhile project, if I ever get time to tackle it.
Beginner-Fun-With-Lego-Robot Inventor-51515-Python-October-2021-ED1 (pdf)
DownloadSubscribe
Sign up to hear from us about specials, sales, and events.