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Celebrate National Robotics Week by building a custom robot with Sphero RVR.

National Robotics Week is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the world of robotics with students of all ages. 

Why Is National Robotics Week Important?

Robotics opens up a student's imagination and sparks their collective curiosity. National Robotics Week is beneficial for students for two reasons: First, it introduces them to the world of robotics. Second, it shows them how exciting it is to participate in STEAM-related activities and how they translate into future careers in STEM.

What Do Students Gain From Learning Through Robotics?

While coding is an integral part of learning through robotics, it's so much more than that. When students participate in robotics activities, it helps them learn more about communicating across multiple technology platforms, community involvement, and leadership. These activities also help students find and embrace their passions while building teamwork skills.

Students gather around a table while they code a Sphero BOLT for National Robotics Week.

The following STEAM and robotics activities serve as a springboard for inspiration and introduction to this exciting field.

1. Code a Robot Dance Party

Yes, you read that correctly! It turns out, robots are excellent dancers if you know how to code the right movies. In this activity, you’ll demonstrate musical expression (interpretations and appropriate variations of dynamics and tempo) through Sphero BOLT using the Block Coding canvas in the Sphero Edu app. Then you will execute a blocks program to represent a song of your choice, which will include movement, lights and sounds, and other blocks. 

2. Host a Family STEM Night

A family gathers around the kitchen table to learn how to program a Sphero BOLT for National Robotics Week.

There are many ways families can learn and have fun through robotics and STEM. By hosting a family STEM night, kids and parents can easily facilitate and guide inventive ideas and programming experiences together. There are myriad ways families can celebrate National Robotics Week together, and with the help of a programmable robot like Sphero BOLT and Sphero indi these fun ideas can come to life. Explore our roundup of family STEM activities and start planning your night of family fun today!

Tip: Find tech tools that are age appropriate for your kids for your family STEM night. With Sphero, kids as young as four years old can start, grow, and advance with our programmable robots and STEM kits. Watch to learn more!

3. Design Your Own DIY “Robot”

A DIY robot made out of craft materials for National Robotics Week.

If your students or kids are younger and new to robotics, a fun way to celebrate National Robotics Week is to create your own “robots” out of household items and other craft materials. There are a variety of easy robotics projects for kids out there, so there’s options for all ages and skill levels. While many of these designs aren’t true robots, kids will enjoy building and creating their interpretations of what robots are, look like, and do.  

4. Build the Robot of Your Dreams

An engineering student builds a custom robot with Sphero RVR for National Robotics Week.

Do you have an idea for a robot that will solve a problem and possibly change the world? Then build it! With a customizable, expandable platform like Sphero RVR students, hackers, and makers who want to build and customize a drivable robot are only limited by their imagination. Change the robot's look and feel by connecting third-party hardware to its universal expansion (UART) port. Students and robotics enthusiasts of all ages and abilities love building, coding, and hacking with this robot. Get inspired with ideas for your RVR, Raspberry Pi, and micro:bit on the Sphero Public SDK.

Celebrating with National Robotics Week activities is a fun and exciting way for students and parents to embrace the world of robotics and STEM-related fields. When parents and students explore what robotics have to offer with these fun activities, they see how beginner and advanced learners can pave the way for the next generation of coders, creators, and inventors. Check out Sphero's collection of programmable robots today!

References:

[1] https://www.nationalroboticsweek.org/

[2] https://sphero.com/

[3] https://researchparent.com/learn/technology-engineering/robotics/

[4] sphero.com/collections/all

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