R08-U4 · usually age 8 · Little Inventors

Interactive Robot Story

Can a robot become a story character?

Pilot unit plan · 4 sessions · not yet classroom-validated

Build: Programmable moving animal

A robot character in a story: each pair's walking-legs animal (the card linkage of R06-U4) is carried through a story by an operator who follows picture cards, one row for each event, with count tiles for repeats. Pairs perform for an audience, change one card, and explain how the change changes what the animal does.

Decide
Act

Who it is for

Age is a starting point, never a limit. A learner who can show what this unit starts from can begin here at any age.

How they learn: By making, moving and playing: ramps, wheels, levers, a classmate acting as a robot. Pictures and arrows instead of words; no code text.
The adult's role: An adult leads every session and prepares anything powered. Children never handle loose batteries, sharp tools or hot parts.
Session: 45–60 minutes
Hardware: No controller needed: cardboard, wheels, gears; optional enclosed low-voltage modules. The adult prepares or checks any wiring. No loose batteries, coin cells, small magnets, sharp tools or hot parts.

Starts from

Events
Make something start when something happens (an event).
Built in R08-U1 Input, Output and Events
Repeat
Use 'repeat' instead of writing the same steps again.
Built in R08-U2 Make It Move with Blocks
Linkages
Make a linkage that turns one movement into another.
Built in R06-U4 My Moving Creature

Builds, and what it is the input for

Explaining a design
Explain how a machine works and what to improve.
Input for R17-U4 Community Robotics Capstone

In the studio today

No studio lab or activity for this unit yet.

Sessions

Session 1 · 50 min
What story will our animal tell?
Design thinking for a story character: who the story is for, what happens in it, and what the animal must do. The animal is a card linkage on the walking-legs template: pushing its handle swings both legs together. Each pair chooses its animal and plans one story with two events.
The adult says first: “Your animal will star in a story. Plan what it does when things happen.”
Picture cards for the children (symbols and drawings; they read nothing)
1. ↔ — picture: the handle pushed left and right: one step
2. ☀ — picture: the sun card: morning
3. ☁ — picture: the rain card: rain
4. ✂ — picture: rounded-end scissors cutting along a thick line
5. ☝✗ — picture: a finger by a joint, crossed out
Key words (said aloud, pointing to the card): story · event · plan
Timing (0 of 50 min at the screen)
1. 10 minAway from the screen: The adult shows the example animal walking on the story mat.
2. 20 minAway from the screen: Colour the animal; cut and glue paper ears or a tail.
3. 15 minAway from the screen: Plan the story: what happens for the sun card and the rain card?
4. 5 minAway from the screen: Tidy away: the adult counts the rounded-end scissors back in.
In the studio
No studio lab: this session is off-screen.
Hands-on
Nothing is powered. Before the session the adult makes one animal per pair from the walking-legs template: a card body with two legs the adult pins at the hips, 6 cm apart, and a joining strip the adult pins to each leg 3 cm below its hip (its holes also 6 cm apart), with a handle at one end (push the handle left and both feet swing left together; push it right and both swing right together): every piece cut from thick card, every hole made by the hole rule, every split pin pushed through, flattened and taped by the adult. The adult shows the example animal walking on the story mat: one push of the handle left and right is one step, and the operator slides the animal one square along the path for it. Each pair chooses what animal it is, colours the body and legs with crayons, and cuts ears or a tail from paper along thick lines with rounded-end scissors, glued on with a glue stick. Then the pair plans its story on a large sheet, as pictures: what happens when the sun card comes up, and what happens when the rain card comes. The animals stay on a tray the adult keeps.
Evidence to collect
Each pair's story plan drawing, kept by the adult, and the adult's note of what each pair said their animal will do for each event.
Predict
Before the example animal walks, each child shows with their hands which way its legs will swing when the handle is pushed left.
Debug
If a leg sticks when the handle is pushed, the adult loosens that split pin a little and checks the strip is not rubbing; the child tries again slowly.
Reflect
Who is your story for, and what should they see the animal do?
⚠ Adult checks: Holes: only the adult makes them, at a side table, with a single-hole punch (near an edge) or a sharp pencil pushed through the card into a blob of modelling clay (further in). The punch and the pencil stay at the adult's side table, out of the children's reach. Split pins are small and pointed: the adult keeps the box, flattens each pin's legs and tapes over the ends, and counts the pins out and back in. Fitted pins stay under the adult's check: before each session, and before a build leaves the table, the adult checks every pin is flat, taped and tight. Moving parts: fingers stay out of joints and gaps while a linkage moves; move it slowly by its handle. Scissors: only small scissors with rounded, blunt ends, used sitting down, with left-handed scissors for left-handed children. Children cut paper and thin card only. No craft knives, box cutters or pointed scissors near the children: the adult cuts thick card before the session, away from them, and only the adult makes holes (see the hole rule). No hot glue in these units. Joints use tape, glue sticks and split pins, which only the adult pushes through and opens.
Works towards: Explaining a design
Session 2 · 55 min
Can our picture cards tell the story?
The story's program: an event card, then its row of action cards, with a count tile to repeat a step. When the sun card is shown, the animal does its sun row; when the rain card is shown, its rain row. The operator carries the cards out exactly; the cards are a program for a person.
The adult says first: “Show an event card. The operator does that row, one card at a time.”
Picture cards for the children (symbols and drawings; they read nothing)
1. ☀ ➡ 🐾 ×3 — picture: the sun card, then three walking steps
2. ☁ ➡ ↻ 🐾 ×2 — picture: the rain card, then turn round and walk
3. 💤 — picture: the animal lying down
4. ✋ ↔ — picture: the operator pushing the handle slowly
5. ☝✗ — picture: a finger by a joint, crossed out
Key words (said aloud, pointing to the card): event · repeat · operator
Timing (0 of 55 min at the screen)
1. 10 minAway from the screen: The adult shows an event card starting a row on the story mat.
2. 30 minAway from the screen: Each pair lays its sun row and its rain row, predicts and runs them.
3. 10 minAway from the screen: Change one card where the story went wrong; run it again.
4. 5 minAway from the screen: The adult photographs the rows (cards only).
In the studio
No studio lab: this session is off-screen.
Hands-on
Nothing is powered. On the story mat, a path of squares drawn on a large sheet taped flat to the table, each pair lays two rows: the sun card and its actions, and the rain card and its actions, from the walk card (🐾), the turn-round card (↻), the lie-down card (💤) and count tiles. In each pair, the storyteller holds up an event card and checks each card as it is done; the operator carries out that row card by card, pushing the handle slowly and sliding the animal one square for each step, fingers out of the joints. Then the pair swaps roles. The pair predicts where the animal will end before each run, then tests it and changes one card if the story goes wrong.
Evidence to collect
The adult's note of each pair's two rows and whether the animal ended where they predicted, and a photo of the rows beside the story mat (cards only).
Predict
Before each run, the pair points to the square where the animal will end and says what it will be doing there.
Debug
If the animal ends in the wrong place, the operator runs the row again one card at a time, and the pair stops at the first card that does not match the story.
Reflect
Which card starts each part of your story, and how do you know?
⚠ Adult checks: Fitted pins stay under the adult's check: before each session, and before a build leaves the table, the adult checks every pin is flat, taped and tight. Moving parts: fingers stay out of joints and gaps while a linkage moves; move it slowly by its handle.
Works towards: Explaining a design
Session 3 · 55 min
Does our audience see the story we planned?
Iteration and communication: the pair tells its story to the other pair or pairs, then checks whether the audience saw what was planned. Each pair chooses one change to a card or a count, tests it, and explains how the change changes what the animal does.
The adult says first: “Tell your story. Ask what they saw. Change one card and tell it again.”
Picture cards for the children (symbols and drawings; they read nothing)
1. 👀 👀 — picture: the audience pair watching
2. ⇄ ×4 — picture: a count tile changed
3. 🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾 — picture: the animal walking further
4. 💬 — picture: a child explaining the change
Key words (said aloud, pointing to the card): audience · change · explain
Timing (0 of 55 min at the screen)
1. 10 minAway from the screen: The adult shows a story, a change and the words to explain it.
2. 35 minAway from the screen: In a four or a six: perform, ask the audience, change one card, perform again; swap.
3. 10 minAway from the screen: Each pair tells the group its change and what it did.
In the studio
No studio lab: this session is off-screen.
Hands-on
Nothing is powered. Pairs meet in a four or a six (two or three pairs) at a story mat. One pair performs: the storyteller shows the events in the story's order and the operator carries out each row. The audience, the other pair or pairs, says, pointing to the picture cards, what the animal did. The performing pair compares that with its plan, chooses one change to a card or a count tile, makes it, runs the row again and says what the change did, for example: we changed the two to a four, so the fox walked to the river. Then the next pair performs, until every pair has.
Evidence to collect
The adult's note of each pair's change and what they said it did to the animal, and a photo of the row before and after the change (cards only).
Predict
Before the change runs, the pair says what the animal will do differently, and the audience guesses too.
Debug
If the change does not do what the pair said, they run the old row and the new row one after the other and point to where they differ.
Reflect
What did your audience see that you did not plan?
⚠ Adult checks: Fitted pins stay under the adult's check: before each session, and before a build leaves the table, the adult checks every pin is flat, taped and tight. Moving parts: fingers stay out of joints and gaps while a linkage moves; move it slowly by its handle.
Works towards: Explaining a design
Session 4 · 50 min
Can we explain how our cards change the animal?
Showing and explaining: each pair performs its story, then shows one change to its program and explains how the change changes the animal's behaviour.
The adult says first: “Show your story. Then show one change and tell us what it did.”
Picture cards for the children (symbols and drawings; they read nothing)
1. ☀ ☁ — picture: the two event cards
2. ⇄ — picture: one card changed
3. ▭ ▭ — picture: the row before and after the change
4. 💬 — picture: a child explaining to the group
Key words (said aloud, pointing to the card): explain · change · story
Timing (0 of 50 min at the screen)
1. 10 minAway from the screen: The adult checks every split pin; pairs set out their rows.
2. 25 minAway from the screen: Each pair performs its story for the group.
3. 10 minAway from the screen: Each pair shows one change and explains what it did.
4. 5 minAway from the screen: The adult photographs each pair's two rows (cards only).
In the studio
No studio lab: this session is off-screen.
Hands-on
Nothing is powered. The adult checks every split pin is flat, taped and tight. Each pair performs its story for the group: the storyteller shows the sun card and the rain card, and the operator carries out each row. Then the pair shows the adult one change to its program, a card or a count, runs the row before and after the change, and explains how the change changed what the animal did. After the session the animals stay in the setting: the adult takes them apart and counts every split pin back in.
Evidence to collect
The unit's evidence: each pair explains how a change to its picture-card program (the code a person carries out) changes the animal's behaviour, running the row before and after the change, shown and told to the adult; kept as the adult's note of their explanation and a photo of the two rows, never of the children.
Predict
Before the changed row runs, the pair says what the animal will now do, and the group points to where it will end.
Debug
If the animal does not do what the pair explained, they run both rows again slowly, card by card, and point to the card that made the difference.
Reflect
If your animal were a real robot, what would you program it to do next?
⚠ Adult checks: Fitted pins stay under the adult's check: before each session, and before a build leaves the table, the adult checks every pin is flat, taped and tight. Builds with split pins stay in the setting: after the last session the adult takes them apart and counts every split pin back in. Moving parts: fingers stay out of joints and gaps while a linkage moves; move it slowly by its handle. Photos are of the build only, taken by the adult on the setting's device, following its photo policy: no child in the frame, no names visible, the build on the table or floor, not in a hand. Nothing is uploaded to this studio and no name goes into it; the adult's notes follow the setting's records policy.
Works towards: Explaining a design

Materials

Per group of up to six: a big cardboard box of prepared parts (pre-cut by the adult), masking tape, glue sticks, crayons and large sheets of paper for drawings
Small scissors with rounded, blunt ends for every child, with left-handed pairs
The adult's picture cards for the session, drawn large (drawn by hand today; printable cards are planned)
One animal per pair, made by the adult before session 1 from the walking-legs template: a card body with two legs the adult pins at the hips, 6 cm apart, and a joining strip the adult pins to each leg 3 cm below its hip (its holes also 6 cm apart), with a handle at one end: body, legs and strip cut from thick card, every hole made by the hole rule
A box of split pins (paper fasteners), kept by the adult
A single-hole punch, or a sharp pencil and a blob of modelling clay, kept at the adult's side table
A story mat per pair: a path of squares, each about as long as the animal, drawn on a large sheet taped flat to the table
Picture cards drawn large by the adult: the sun and rain event cards, walk, turn round, lie down, and count tiles from ×2 to ×5

⚠ Safety before any session

Nothing in these units is powered: no batteries, no plugs, no controller. Every machine is pushed, pulled or turned by hand.
Small parts: nothing loose, or that could come off, that fits inside the small-parts cylinder (31.70 mm wide, 57.10 mm long). No beads, marbles, buttons, small magnets or coin cells. If in doubt, leave it out.
The one exception is split pins, which stay under the adult's check.
No craft knives, box cutters or pointed scissors near the children: the adult cuts thick card before the session, away from them, and only the adult makes holes (see the hole rule).
Scissors: only small scissors with rounded, blunt ends, used sitting down, with left-handed scissors for left-handed children. Children cut paper and thin card only.
Holes: only the adult makes them, at a side table, with a single-hole punch (near an edge) or a sharp pencil pushed through the card into a blob of modelling clay (further in).
The punch and the pencil stay at the adult's side table, out of the children's reach.
Split pins are small and pointed: the adult keeps the box, flattens each pin's legs and tapes over the ends, and counts the pins out and back in.
Fitted pins stay under the adult's check: before each session, and before a build leaves the table, the adult checks every pin is flat, taped and tight.
Builds with split pins stay in the setting: after the last session the adult takes them apart and counts every split pin back in.
Moving parts: fingers stay out of joints and gaps while a linkage moves; move it slowly by its handle.
No hot glue in these units. Joints use tape, glue sticks and split pins, which only the adult pushes through and opens.
Photos are of the build only, taken by the adult on the setting's device, following its photo policy: no child in the frame, no names visible, the build on the table or floor, not in a hand.
Nothing is uploaded to this studio and no name goes into it; the adult's notes follow the setting's records policy.

Safety for every band

Low voltage only: battery packs or USB. Never mains electricity.
Never connect a motor straight to a controller pin: use a driver and a separate supply.
Every moving robot has a power-off switch within reach that cuts the motor battery (or all power). A software stop button is extra, never a replacement.
No coin or button cells and no loose small magnets; battery compartments screwed shut.
Guard wheels and moving parts against pinched fingers; keep robots slow and indoors.
No exposed lithium cells, improvised chargers or lasers.
No Li-ion, LiPo or RC packs: AA alkaline or NiMH cells in a closed holder with a switch, or USB.
Check polarity and voltage before power-on; a 3.3 V board must not receive 5 V signals.

Notes for the adult

Say each step aloud: your words come first. The children read nothing. Each session's picture cards show symbols and drawings only; say the key word as you point to its card.
These plans assume one adult for up to six children. The adult leads every step, prepares every cut before the session, makes every hole (by the hole rule) and keeps the craft box and the split pins.
With a whole class, run a carousel: one station of up to six children run by the adult, and independent stations within the adult's sight where the others have a defined task with no scissors, split pins or ramps (each plan's “Whole class:” note names them). Groups swap until every child has been at the adult's station.
Whole class: the animals, the story mats and the split pins stay at the adult's station. The independent stations are drawing the story as a strip of pictures with crayons, and laying event and action cards for a large soft toy on a second story mat.
Inclusion: every child takes part. Mobility: a child can show a movement their own way (hands, arms or a large soft toy), be the robot on big, clear squares in a wheelchair, lay the cards or give the instructions, or move a large soft toy across a table-top grid. Vision: large, high-contrast or tactile picture cards (raised outlines). Hearing: say each key word and point to its card at the same time, facing the child. Left-handed children get left-handed scissors with rounded ends.
In this unit, a child who finds pushing the handle hard can be the storyteller, who also checks each card, or push it with a partner's hand over theirs; a child who would rather not speak to the group can explain by pointing to the cards while you say the words.
Evidence is showing and telling: a demonstration, a photo of the build (never of a child, no names visible) or a drawing that you keep, or your own short note. No names in the studio, no scores, no uploads.
The CPSC's small-parts rule is written for toys for children under 3, and it exempts paper and writing materials such as crayons (16 CFR 1501.3, quoted). These plans apply its cylinder check to the loose objects children handle, and to anything that could come off, a stricter planning choice: groups mix ages and younger visitors come in. Paper and crayons stay in use; the adult collects glue-stick caps and crayon stubs at the end of each session.
No screen in this unit: every session is away from the screen. Robot Instructions has no level for it.
Picture cards are a program for a person, not code that runs: a child or you carry them out, card by card. Nothing in these units runs a program by itself, and nothing is uploaded.
One template, from R06-U4: the walking-legs template: a card body with two legs the adult pins at the hips, 6 cm apart, and a joining strip the adult pins to each leg 3 cm below its hip (its holes also 6 cm apart), with a handle at one end; push the handle left and both feet swing left together; push it right and both swing right together. In this unit one push of the handle left and right is one step, and the operator slides the animal one square along the path for it (planning choices). The animal goes nowhere by itself: the operator moves it, as the cards say.
Split pins are small parts with pointed ends, so only you handle them: keep their legs flattened and taped, check the tape before each session, and take the animals apart yourself at the end (the CPSC's sharp-point rule is quoted in the sources).
The explanation is the outcome, not the story's polish: a pair that says which card they changed and what the animal then did differently has shown it, whatever the story.
This unit relies on events (R08-U1), repeats (R08-U2) and linkages (R06-U4). It does not teach them again.
Readiness decides, not age: a child who already explains how a change to a program changes what a machine does has what R17-U4, the capstone, needs from this unit; every later band practises it again.

Planned studio features

Not built yet. The unit runs without them.

Printable picture cards: the sun and rain event cards, walk, turn round, lie down and the count tiles.
A printable story mat: a path of squares sized to the walking-legs animal.

Sources

The facts this plan relies on, in each source's own words.

US CPSC: Child Safety: Summary Information for Small Parts, 16 C.F.R. Part 1501
“A small part is any object that fits completely into a specially designed test cylinder 2.25 inches /57.10mm long by 1.25 inches /31.70 mm wide that approximates the size of the fully expanded throat of a child under three years old. … A piece of a toy or article that breaks off during testing that simulates use or abuse by children. … Toys and games that are or contain small parts as manufactured and that are intended for use by children from 3 to 6 years old must be labeled to warn purchasers not to buy them for children under 3 years old because those children could choke on the small parts. Marbles, small balls, and balloons require similar warnings.”
US eCFR, 16 CFR 1501 (a CPSC rule): Method for identifying toys and other articles intended for use by children under 3 years of age which present choking, aspiration, or ingestion hazards because of small parts
“This regulation does not apply to toys or articles which are solely intended for use by children 3 years of age or older. … The following articles are exempt from this regulation … Books and other articles made of paper; … Writing materials such as crayons, chalk, pencils, and pens; … Any components or pieces (excluding paper, fabric, yarn, fuzz, elastic, and string) which have become detached from the article as a result of the use and abuse testing shall be placed into the cylinder, one at a time.”
US eCFR, 16 CFR 1500.48 (a CPSC rule): Technical requirements for determining a sharp point in toys and other articles intended for use by children under 8 years of age
“The sharp point test prescribed by paragraph (d) of this section will be used by the Commission in making a preliminary determination that points on toys and other articles intended for use by children under 8 years of age, and such points exposed in normal use or as a result of reasonably foreseeable damage or abuse of such toys and articles, present a potential risk of injury by puncture or laceration”
NHS (Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust): Scissor Skills
“Children may have the skills to use small scissors by three to four years of age, but scissor skills are not fully developed until 6 years of age. … Children will need supervision for sharp scissors. Make sure that scissors have rounded rather than pointy ends for safety. … Always provide left handed scissors for left handed children. … Start with thick solid lines to cut.”