When we talk about building a robot or decide to do so then we must have some skills in both, hardware & software. No doubt, Engino are one of the brilliant makers and manufacturers who provide the most engaging DIY involved STEM kits and other series that covers both hardware & software aspects of robotics...
Engino STEM Robotics Mini ERP 1.3 is no exception in the list of these interesting, exciting and fun kits.
They have gone an extra mile to provide kids, and even to adult newbies, learning solutions in a fun way, and have made them the simplest possible, and that's not all, they are still trying to make their learning DIY kits and, wherever applicable, programming more easier.
The software has a library of functions for effective programming, including logical and control functions such as IF statements, loops and subroutines. It incorporates a new patent pending method of parallel programming which reduces the programming steps by more than 50%, making programming very easy even for beginners. ...Source
HARDWARE:
There are 8 different robots that can be build with Engino STEM Robotics Mini ERP 1.3 kits using the accompanied manual. .
Building blocks are easy to connect and if anyone is finding it difficult then they can watch online 3D demonstratin of building the robots, block by block with the help of Instruction Viewer (Schematic diagrams are also available in the manual).
Other than these diagrams type of views, block by block 3D construction can also be played in the Instruction Viewer.
The beauty of Engino kits is, kids can build what they imagine (of course, within the available blocks and rest of the components, like solar penals, number of motors, controllers, sensonrs, etc). Even if they cannot imagine anything new then diagrams of other models are available to download from the site, free of cost.
SOFTWARE:
Programming is an important part in robotics, if kids don't know how to program robot's movements and different sequence and how it should function, then their training would remain incomplete.
Engino has developed a state of the art software, KEIRO, for this very purpose.
KEIRO does not only have an interactive way of approach to apply and learn different commands to improve the programming skills, what I like the most, they are, as I have already mentioned above, trying to make it even better by adding more commands and making it simpler to control even for the beginners who have little knowledge about the robotics programming.
Now question is, how simple programming a robot could be? Consider pressing a button.
Another thing which is appreciable about the software is its capability to play and record the commands while the user programming the controller (See the above image). This is specially useful why, because once the program is manually created by the controller, it cannot be edited.
Engino hasn't left any stone unturned concerning the technological aspects, and KEIRO is also available for the mobiles and tablets. It can be downloaded from App Store and Google Play.
all this adds up to...
With this kit, children will learn about different types of robots, their structure & components, their applications in the real life, like space exploration, industrial use, robotic houses, traffic lights, etc.
From the programming perspective, they would learn manual programming of the robots using digital buttons, a great deal of coding, various number of commands and above all how to program the robots to perform any specific task.
Programming is the name of providing the appropriate information to the robot in the form of commands on the basis of which a robot decied its actions on any specific situation or condition, and Engino has conveyed this very message of programming in an excellent manner.
One of the reasons, I like these types of KITS for the children, is their approach to keep kids aware about the latest technological trends and help improve their intellectual capabilities on a tremendous level as well.
references & sources...
1 Engino STEM Robotics Mini ERP 1.3 ... Official Page
2. Instruction Manual
3. Instruction Viewer
NOTE: This was originally published at STEM & DIY: Engino STEM Robotics Mini ERP 1.3
