Draw a Robot That Helps
Design a robot for one real job in your house, and label how it notices things and how it moves.
- Ages
- 3 to 9
- Time
- 15 to 20 minutes
- You Need
- Paper and crayons.
What to do
- Pick one job in this house that somebody hates doing. A real one.
- Draw a robot that does that job. It does not have to look like a person and probably should not.
- Label two things on the drawing: how it notices what is around it, and how it moves.
- Say out loud who would have to teach it, and what they would have to teach it first.
Ask afterward
- What does it notice with? What does it move with?
- Is a dishwasher a robot? What is missing?
- What job would you never want a robot to do?
- What if whoever taught it taught it badly?
For the grown-up
The labelling step is what turns this from drawing a robot into understanding one. Sensors and movement are the two things every real robot has, and a child who has labelled them once will keep looking for them.
Read this first
What Is a Robot?
The activity works on its own, and it works considerably better after the explanation it belongs with.
Read the explanation