Robot Design
Robot Pet Builder
Guided by Rodney Brooks
Design a robot pet that does one job well. Not ten jobs. One job. Make it useful enough that your family would actually want it around.
Watch
See it happen in the real world.
Rodney Brooks built the Roomba, which is the first robot a hundred million people invited into their homes. Roomba isn't fancy. It vacuums. It bumps into things and turns around. That's most of it. Rodney's whole career was about asking, 'What does a robot need to do — really do — to belong in a real house?' Sometimes the answer is: not very much. The trick is doing that small thing perfectly.
Think
A question worth sitting with.
If your robot pet could only do one thing, what would actually be useful to your family?
Build
Make something with your hands.
Sketch your robot pet on paper. Label five parts: how it moves, how it senses, what it eats (power), what job it does, how you talk to it. Use cardboard or LEGO to build a prototype of the body.
Step-by-step
On one page, draw your robot pet from the side, about as big as your hand.
Add a label for each of: (1) how it moves, (2) how it senses, (3) what it eats — battery? solar? — (4) the one job it does, (5) how you tell it what to do.
Build a paper or LEGO body that matches the sketch. Don't worry if it works yet. Worry that it looks like the sketch.
Show it to one family member. Ask: 'Would you actually want this in our house?' Write down their answer word-for-word.
Pick one part of the sketch they didn't believe. Change it. Re-show. This is how every real product gets made.
Toolkit
- Paper
- LEGO
- Household
Play
Test it. See what it does.
Pitch your robot pet to your family in 30 seconds. They get to ask one question. If you can't answer it, your robot has a bug — write down what to fix.
Challenge
Push it a little further.
Add one accessibility feature: something that helps your pet work for someone with limited hearing, sight, or movement.
Reflect
Notice what your robot taught you.
What would you improve about your robot pet?
Also ask yourself
What surprised you?
Reward
Mission outro
+0XP
“Can you make your robot even smarter? Even smaller?”
Skills advanced: creativity, mechanical design
Badge
Young Inventor