Additional educational activities for Edison robots
Whether you are looking for a stand-alone activity to get your class started with Edison, are seeking more cross-curricular STEAM options to try, or you need more for students to do above and beyond the coding lesson plans and the Edison design challenges, these educational activities are perfect for the classroom.
What is a robot anyway?
Investigate what robots are, what they can do and how the representation of robots in fiction differs from real-life robots. Then get hands-on as you explore the fundamental robotics concepts of sensors, autonomous behaviour and the input-process-output cycle.
Quad squad robots
Combining aspects of geometry, the visual arts, technology and problem-solving, this multi-stage STEAM activity centres on quadrilaterals. Students examine quadrilaterals from different perspectives, exploring concepts including patterns, sequence, parallel lines and angles.
Operation: Neko Prime
Engage students’ imaginations and 21st Century skills with this space-themed activity. Students team up to find solutions, with minimal supervision from you, putting their communication and collaboration capabilities to the test as they problem-solve through this scenario-based project.
Edison the artist
Grab your Edison robot and some paint! This video is bound to give you inspiration for your next masterpiece. A truly STEAM activity which taps into engineering, coding and the visual arts, your class is bound to have lots of fun (and lots of learning) trying out this challenge.
Radioactive waste locator
Ready for a stepped-up coding challenge that includes variables and uses Edison’s sensors? Then help Edison save the day! There are four drums of radioactive waste buried and hidden somewhere in this area. Use Edison to help find them so they can be cleared away.
Trains in tunnels challenge
Incorporate a real-life scenario into your classroom by using Edison to represent a train with automatic headlights. As the train moves along, it will need to turn on its headlights whenever it enters a dark tunnel, then flip them off again on the other side automatically.
Railroad crossing challenge
Dust off your old toy train kit and grab 2 or 3 Edison robots for this road safety-themed challenge of creating a railroad crossing barrier. Using IR to send and receive messages, Edison robots will lower barriers to stop cars from crossing the tracks when the train is coming.
Robot pianist
Trust us when we say you’ll want to try this activity the second you see it! Turn Edison into a musician with this fun printable piano. The EdPy code you need is listed in the video comments so you can spend more time performing and less time programming.
Edison robot phonograph
Music + Engineering + Technology = this activity! Building on from the code used in the robot pianist project, this activity includes an engineering challenge of building the phonograph that uses Edison robots to play songs off of printed ‘records’.
Automatic door challenge
How does an automatic door work? This great STEM project combines a coding challenge with engineering principles. Students need to turn Edison into an automatic door that detects when something approaches, opens the door, waits, then closes the door again.
Smart streetlights
Turn Edison into a smart street lamp that automatically turns on the lights when the sun goes down, then turns them off when it’s bright outside once again. This challenge is a great real-world application of Edison’s sensors, perfect for a single lesson session.
