Google Summer Squad: Lego Robotics

Young people from across London were given the opportunity to play and learn with robotics thanks to Google’s free Summer Squad program of workshops and activities for children aged 8-13.

Google Summer Squad gives young people unique opportunities to interact with new technology from making robots move with code to building a special code-powered photo booth to take snaps with friends. The Google Summer Squad took place in Google’s only retail stores in the world, here in London, over 8 weeks of free in-store activities for kids aged 8 to 13.

As part of the Lego Robotics sessions children were taught the basics of algorithms (a step-by-step set of instructions given to a computer) and shown how to use this new knowledge to control the exciting and versatile Lego Mindstorms EV3 set.

The young people were encouraged to follow a ‘recipe book’ of algorithms to begin with to familiarise themselves with what the robot could do, to get some practise of building simple algorithms and to understand the process of uploading our algorithms to the robot.

The main challenge of the session involved the children attempting to build a line following robot using the EV3s colour/light sensor. The children had great fun designing their courses on the floor and chasing after their robots when things didn’t quite go to plan! The young people were given two options – either to attempt to build the line follower from a list of the raw components for the more able or to follow another ‘recipe’ and tweak the numbers to improve performance for the less experienced.

It was a pleasure to be involved in the Google Summer Squad events this year and see so many bright and inspired young people thoroughly enjoying learning, tinkering and making with technology. Many parents stayed throughout the sessions and commented on how engaged and motivated the children were over the course of the workshops.

If you would like to run your own similar event at your school or youth setting please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to discuss how we can work together to motivate and inspire your young people around STEM and the arts.