Pythagorean approximations for LEGO: Merging educational robot construction with programming and data analysis

April 2017

Author


Ronald I. Greenberg

Loyola University Chicago

This paper can be used in two ways. It can provide reference information for incorporating diagonal elements (for bracing or gear meshing) in educational robots built from standard LEGO kits. Alternatively, it can be used as the basis for an assignment for high school or college students to recreate this information; in the process, students will exercise skills in both computer programming and data analysis. Using the paper in the second way can be an excellent integrative experience to add to an existing course; for example, the Exploring Computer Science high school curriculum concludes with the units Introduction to Programming'',Computing and Data Analysis”, and “Robotics”.

Suggested Citation

Ronald I. Greenberg. Pythagorean approximations for LEGO: Merging educational robot construction with programming and data analysis. In Proceedings of the the 8th International Conference on Robotics in Education, RiE 2017, volume 630 of Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, pages 65–76. Springer-Verlag, 2018. Sofia, Bulgaria. Revised and expanded version of ``Pythagorean Combinations for LEGO Robot Building'' in 2016 Global Conference on Educational Robotics.