Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Which robots should I buy for my classroom? I asked all of you over on my Instagram at Naomi Meredith your opinion and what robots you buy for your students and the ones that you have experience with. I am sharing with you your responses as to what has worked well in your classroom and also what have been some sticking points for you. There are some robots that you guys told me about that I haven't used before. So this was a very exciting episode to put together and get all of your opinions and expertise. 

Naomi Meredith [00:01:11]:

I have done an episode like this before. It was kind of like a bonus episode, and I had asked over on my Instagram about the 3D printers that you have used and your recommendations and things that have worked well and what haven't. And that is a really cool episode because I had experience with only a couple of different types of printers. But knowing there are so many out there, I wouldn't have been able to experience them all. And so that is actually an episode I share with teachers all the time when they're asking that question just to hear other people's perspectives. So, that will be linked in the show notes for you because I think that is super valuable, and I wanted to create a similar experience here for this episode as it relates to your experiences with different robots. Also, back in episode 43, I gave my specific robot recommendations and why I suggested those, so my experience and what robots that I had access to. Out of all of those, and you can hear about all the different kinds, in my personal opinion, Dash by Wonder Workshop is my absolute favorite.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:25]:

There are a lot of runners up, but that's my preference for robots. To me, that is the most versatile user friendly robot. It can be used k through 8. It has a driving mode that is good for introducing this robot to younger students, but then you can get into that block-based coding that looks a lot like Scratch. And then a lot of people don't know this about Dash, but if you have any of the paid tiers of your Make Wonder program, there is actually JavaScript coding and more advanced block-based coding. So, that is a cool experience that you can bring to Dash when your kids need more of a challenge. And they also have in those paid tiers, it is a virtual Dash, so it actually interacts with the code just like the physical Dash, and students can take their learning home with their virtual dash or just have another option. So that's pretty fun as well.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:22]:

Something to keep your eye out for is their international steam summit that is coming up for Wonder Workshop for the springtime. So, there are things all things dash there, but also some really cool but also other really cool presenters and presentations that are all STEM based. So keep an eye out. I usually speak every year. I did submit a proposal, so fingers crossed I get chosen. But, it was fun. Last year, I did a presentation. I also got to be their keynote speaker, which was super, super cool.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:56]:

And I'm pretty sure I played that keynote here on this podcast. It might have been episode 99 or a100, which was pretty exciting. Alright. So in terms of robot recommendations, what are all of you using out there? And I thought this was really cool. I had so much fun talking to all of you on Instagram. So, thank you to those who responded. This was really fun to hear because there were a lot of commonalities with the types of robots that other teachers are using in their classrooms, and then also some newer ones on the market and their opinions. When you teach them, you often don't get that opportunity to observe and check out other classrooms and see what is being done and what works well and what doesn't.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:47]:

And so this was really, really exciting, to get this information and also share it with all of you. When I was talking to Christy B. Lewis, she uses primarily Dash the Robot, like I had just mentioned, but their district will not fund the paid version of Make Wonder, but using the freebies, which is definitely a great place to start with their freebies as well and totally understand, every district has different possibilities when it comes to funding and, what they want to fund and not. So, there are some really awesome things that they have for you to get started. When I was talking to her more, she also used these other little robots. They're called Root robots. And I was messaging with her, and I said, oh my gosh. Those look like little Roombas. And we were looking more into it, and we're pretty sure they are made by the same company, which, honestly, I don't think that's a dumb idea at all.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:51]:

When you think about our robot vacuums, there are those that are being coded. There is code in these robot vacuums. And so, why not make a kid version for kids to experience and understand how this piece of technology works in your home? I don't think they vacuum up anything, but it was pretty cute. They're like little baby Roombas, so she likes them. She said they've been pretty fun. Andrea_zimmermanstem. I was talking with her, and, she uses some different robots in her classroom. She uses the tail bot, t a l e, and the Vinci bot.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:34]:

And then Lego Spike and Vex Go are also robot options. And if you're thinking, wait, LEGO, I thought, was just building? I did have episodes recently all about LEGO Education, and some of the kids' students will build and code their creations. So, technically, it is a robot. I was asking her more about Marty the robot because I hadn't seen that. And so she sent me a picture of Marty, the robot, and in my opinion, I thought Marty looked like the robot. Like, if you ask students to draw me a picture of a robot, this is what it would look like. She said that when you are coding Marty, the robot it's using a remote control, and then the Marty blocks look a lot like Scratch Junior. If you're not familiar with Scratch Jr, that is strictly coding.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:33]:

It doesn't connect to any devices. There is a way to get it on Chromebooks. I think it might be in the Chrome Web Store. I'm not a 100%. I have seen Scratch Junior on Chromebooks, and then I've also used it on iPads. It is a free app. It's awesome. It definitely is very relevant for your youngest learners.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:58]:

So, that was interesting to hear about her experience using this Marty robot and that the code, it seems like, is made for younger students. I was talking with Amber Likes Books and Cats on Instagram, and she uses b bots and Scratch. I might also be mentioning coding platforms here and there since that was the question I asked. B-bots are those little robots that look like a little bumblebee. They are comparable to the code and go mouse. They do the same exact thing. If you are able to spend a little bit more, I do recommend getting the b bots. They are more hefty, heavier duty.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:42]:

They will last longer than your Code and Go mice. So if you're able to do it, do it. They are rechargeable. Code and Go mice use batteries that you do have to interchange. Now, if you get rechargeable batteries, that would work really well. But I recommend the bee bots. That is my preference since they will last you a lot longer. She also uses Sphero, but she also mentioned that they don't follow the code lines as well as they age.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:13]:

And I noticed that too with some of the Sphero that I had. I love Sphero, the ball robot, but as they got older, mine also had an issue with connecting to devices for a long time. They would disconnect quite often, and then the battery life died pretty quickly over time. There were also a couple of other teachers who used Spiro in their classroom. We have miss Geeky Tech, Sarah, who uses Spiro, and then also leapy829 uses Spiro. She also has the Sphero Indy, which I have heard really good things about that for little kids. It looks like a little car, and then there are these colorful squares that each color makes the robot do a certain or different action. So kids are moving these squares around on the floor, and the robot will move around and is looking for those squares to perform the action.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:09]:

So they look really, really fun, and I've heard really fun things about them from teachers who have used them. I also know that Miss Geeky Teach uses Dash. She just wrote a grant through DonorsChoose and got a ton of those funded for her classroom. So, again, if you are hoping, after listening to this episode, you kinda have an idea of what kind of robots you might want to try, DonorsChoose is a great option for that. I did speak with somebody who works for DonorsChoose, which we'll link in the show notes where she talks a little bit more about DonorsChoose, what their mission is, and some ways to help you get your projects funded, which was a really, really cool interview. Bree Smith 13 uses a lot of the similar items that we talked about, Sphero and Dash. For coding platforms, she also uses Codable and Codespark, which don't connect to robots but just some other coding platforms. And then she also uses Ozobots.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:11]:

Hopefully, I think you can buy Ozobots for a while. You couldn't, purchase them, but I think they're back in stock where Ozobots are pretty cool. They're these tiny, tiny little robots. They are, they can fit in the palm of your hand, and they read color patterns. So a lot like the indie where it's looking for colors and it will perform the action, Ozobot will do the same thing, but the colors are colored with a marker. And so those are pretty fun. I use this for quite a bit of time with my 2nd and third graders. A big tip with those is to make sure you count them before your class leaves for the day.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:54]:

I did have a student try to take them more than once, and so that was a practice that I put into place with the Ozobots because I wanted to make sure they didn't go anywhere because they are not cheap. For how little they are, they are not cheap at all. Back to Miss Geeky Teach. She also has the VEX 123 in her classroom, and she was saying that students use a coder where they slide in the code and then they hit play, and then it will run. She said that she has used the VEX 123 from kindergarten all the way to 5th grade, and they're actually really easy to use. And they come with a lot of pre done curriculum, which is easier to jump into. So, if you need more experience when it comes to curriculum, it sounds like this is a good starting place, which can be a sticking point sometimes. Also, she does love Dash and Spiro, but, also, when you don't have access to the curriculum, that can be tricky to get started.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:58]:

So definitely, for any robots, check out their websites. More and more robotics companies are trying to provide resources for you to get started because it is a newer thing, especially in the elementary space, and you wanna make sure that kids are being successful. So definitely check that out, but, when you are getting started with any of your robotics. I definitely have some resources for you to get started with robots, and continuously thinking about that for you as well. If you are hoping to dive in more about coding and robotics, what all of this entails in your STEM space, and what are some different things you can do around this topic, I do have a free podcast playlist that is all about coding and robotics, and I have my entire podcast categorized into categories. So same exact show that you're getting here, but I have all the episodes organized, so you don't have to go pick and choose and find all of the episodes that are related to coding and robotics. I have that all done for you absolutely free. So, it has all of the episodes listed in a spreadsheet.

Naomi Meredith [00:14:14]:

And then what's really cool is there's a special link for each of the playlists where you add it to your podcast player. And as soon as I organize the episode into that category, it pops up on your phone so those specific episodes for that category are already there for you. You can grab this free coding and robotics podcast playlist, oh, and all of the other free playlists over at Naomi Meredith.com/podcastplaylist. You just create a free little account. It's all there for you, and easy for you to find the topics that you wanna learn more about. Thank you so much again for following along, and thank you to everybody who was chatting with me over on Instagram. I love hearing what you're doing in your classrooms and being willing to share your experiences and what is working well and why what isn't working well because that's a reality of teaching. Right? So, thank you so much for sharing all that info with me.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:15]:

I definitely learned a lot of new things. Hearing what is going on in your classroom is super helpful for other teachers out there who want to add more robots in their space or don't have any at all and are looking for where to get started. Thank you so much again, and I will chat with all of you soon.