IoT and Robotics for Everyone

[mozfest-bot]

[ UUID ] 65e1bc46-e958-4ab0-b972-9ebeba1142c5

[ Session Name ] IoT and Robotics for Everyone [ Primary Space ] Youth Zone [ Secondary Space ] Open Innovation

[ Submitter's Name ] Jonathan Watkins [ Submitter's Affiliated Organisation ] Mozilla Campus Club Birmingham [ Submitter's Github ] @JonathanWatkins

[ Additional facilitators ] Robert Stanyon,Patricia Herterich,Edna Conceição,Tom Davies,Phil Jones,Oliver Watkins (Session Leader - 12 years old)

What will happen in your session?

This is a showcase of one of the sessions that we run as part of the Mozilla Campus Club Birmingham, the first Campus Club in the UK. This session is run by one of our youth members and supported by other members of our club. It will cover: An intro to Node.js – a method for running javascript on a Raspberry Pi. Using Input and Output from the Raspberry Pi to control a robot. Creating a basic webpage to allow control of the robot.

What is the goal or outcome of your session?

Internet of Things (IoT) is a new exciting area emerging from the world of computing. Finding a starting point to engage with this new area can be difficult, especially for individuals with little or no experience of computing. Through this session we will provide attendees with a basic skill set to build their own IoT projects, reducing the barrier to engage with this new area.

If your session requires additional materials or electronic equipment, please outline your needs.

15 monitors, 15 keyboards + mice +15 connector cables (we have this, but if we don’t need to transport it, it would make life easier).

Time needed

90 mins

[EPIKhub]

@JonathanWatkins - Yours is our 2nd accepted session in the youth zone :) really looking forward to this session cc/ @gbaman

PS Now you can tell the world as per your email ;)

[gbaman]

And to confirm @JonathanWatkins, we have x2 full Pi classrooms being setup at the venue, so no need to drag your kit down. Can I confirm though you guys are planning to bring your own robots to use with the session?

[UoBEdTechSTEMM]

Hi @gbaman yes we have our own robots. I'll check with my team but I think if you have the Pis, screens, keyboards and mice, that should be fine. Can the Pis be removed to put in the robots? I guess you are using PiTops

[gbaman]

@UoBEdTechSTEMM We would prefer to leave the Pis in the PiTops to avoid a logistical nightmare. All our Pis at Mozfest will be running with PiNet, which requires a wired network connection to operate. If you are needing to have the attendees work on something on the Pis with monitor, then moving that over to the robot, my suggestion would be flashing your own set of SD cards with all you need, then we remove all the PiNet cards at the start of the session then use yours. My suggestion would be if you have your own set of Pis for the robots, bring them to avoid having to unwire our set for a single session.

Once they have done their programming, they can simply move the SD card over? Or am I misunderstanding the session? The cables in the pitops are short, but we could see about longer cables if needs be?

[JonathanWatkins]

@gbaman This sounds fine. The SD card swapping solution works perfectly. What version of Raspberry Pi and OS are you running?

[gbaman]

@JonathanWatkins we will most likely be running with Raspbian Jessie. Stretch is in progress but unlikely to be ready for the festival. To check, how many robots are you guys brining along? @UoBEdTechSTEMM

[JonathanWatkins]

Sorry for the delay. We have around 15 robots.

[gbaman]

@JonathanWatkins ok great, thanks. Do you also need floor space of any decent size for this? Are you bringing any sort of course etc or just letting attendees play around with them near their Pi screens?