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Scratch

Scratch is a visual programming language from the MIT Media Lab. Scratch is used by millions of students and educators across the globe to teach the fundamentals of computer programming. With Scratch and PocketLab, you can write code that takes data from the real-world and controls what happens in the Scratch programming environment. Browse all the creative projects that people have developed.

Six Shades (not fifty!) of Grey: PocketLab Voyager/Scratch Dice

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Submitted by Rich on Tue, 01/16/2018 - 22:20

This is a programming project that capitalizes on PocketLab-Scratch Integration.  This project makes use of the Scratch random number block to simulate rolling an ordinary six-sided die.  The six random but equally likely outcomes are mapped to sprites of six different shades of gray.  Voyager’s light sensor is then used to determine the value of the die’s roll, mapping light sensor values to the corresponding sprite from six images of the face up side of the die.  A short action video of the author’s solution accompanies this lesson. 

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Programming Exercise:Voyager Temperature Probe Controlled Scratch Teapot

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Submitted by Rich on Fri, 12/29/2017 - 01:16

Here is a project that will challenge your students’ skill in interfacing PocketLab Voyager with Scratch Programming.  The challenge is to program the five bubbles to start bubbling upwards in the teapot—one bubble at 90ᵒC, two at 92ᵒC, three at 94ᵒC, four at 96ᵒC, and five bubbles at 98ᵒC.  When the temperature of the teapot has reached 100ᵒC, the phrase Full Boil should appear.  See the movie accompanying this lesson for clarification of the intended result.  When the burner under the real teapot is turned off and cooling begins, bubbling should go away in revers

Interfacing PocketLab Voyager with Modular Robotics Cubelets Maker Space

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Submitted by Rich on Mon, 12/18/2017 - 20:39

The maker revolution has grown by leaps and bounds during the past four years. With dozens of robotic toys for learning and discovery now in the marketplace, it makes sense to give students opportunities for interfacing these robots with the investigative powers of PocketLab Voyager. This lesson describes an example project by which students interface Voyager with Modular Robotics Cubelets—robot blocks that magnetically connect to form an endless variety of robots. There are seventeen different blocks in three categories—sense, think, and act.

Grade Level

PocketLab Voyager Study of LIDAR Basics

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Submitted by Rich on Thu, 12/14/2017 - 19:09

LIDAR—an acronym for Light Detection and Ranging—is a method for remote sensing to measure distances.  While LIDAR commonly uses reflected laser light to accomplish this, students can investigate LIDAR principles by using Voyager’s Gyroscope and IR Range Finder in conjunction with the PocketLab-Scratch integration.  PocketLab support has described a project in which Voyager was mounted to an RC BB-8 Star Wars toy to map a two dimensional image of a “room”.  In this lesson, the aut

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Programming Exercise: Voyager Light Sensor Drives a Scratch Program of the Eye

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Submitted by Rich on Sun, 12/10/2017 - 22:01

The eye is one of the many marvels of the human body.  The colored iris of the eye, surrounding the pupil, acts as a diaphragm to keep the amount of light entering the eye fairly constant.  If you walk out the door of your house to a sunny yard, the iris opening gets smaller letting less light into your eye.  If you enter a dark room after watching your favorite television program, the iris gets larger to allow more light to enter your eye.  This is a protective reflex, as too much light could damage the retina, which is where the image forms in the eye, similar to the film of a traditional

Grade Level

Programming Exercise: Voyager Gyro Controlled Scratch Christmas Tree

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Submitted by Rich on Thu, 12/07/2017 - 19:27

Here is a fun Holiday project that that will challenge your students’ skills in both the physics of a gyroscope and Scratch computer programming. With reference to Figure 1, all of the sprites shown are either from the sprite library or are created from the Paint new sprite option in Scratch. The challenge is to program the tree’s star to blink on and off by control of the x gyro, blink the blue light by control of the y gyro, and blink the big red light by control of the z gyro. All three lights should be on when the Scratch program starts running.

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A Respiration Study with Voyager and Scratch Programming

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Submitted by Rich on Wed, 12/06/2017 - 20:13

This lesson is motivated by a respiration study using a FLIR ONE™ thermal camera in conjunction with the Vernier Thermal Analysis Plus app. Using Voyager and the PocketLab Temperature Probe, however, allows students to investigate respiration at a fraction of the cost of a thermal camera. The response time for the Temperature Probe is rapid enough to observe temperature differences in the air inhaled and exhaled through the mouth during the process of respiration.

Grade Level

Voyager & Ozobot: Teaming Up to Study Kepler’s Law of Equal Areas

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Submitted by Rich on Tue, 08/08/2017 - 19:45

Although there are a number of Web-based screen animations illustrating Kepler’s Law of Equal Areas, there are virtually no widespread physical demonstrations using actual hardware—at least not until Ozobot made the scene!  Now with Voyager and Ozobot working together as a team, the motion can be visualized and studied quantitatively

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