#legotinkering

[ingenuitylab]

#LEGOTinkering Reflection

Over the last couple of months, the Ingenuity Lab was busy engaged in #LEGOTinkering and prototyping the new LEGO Artbots engineering design challenge. Throughout the first 2 weekends of the LEGO Artbot design challenge, the Ingenuity Lab team continued to make observations and get feedback from visitors to further prototype and improve the LEGO Artbot enginnering design challenge. Let's explore some of the observations we noticed and changes we have made!

Many visitors used the booklets that offered visual step-by-step instructions to build a base model.  We were glad to see that many visitors were able to follow the booklets to build and get started with a moving LEGO Artbot. The booklets helped to lower the entry point of the activity, provide an inviting starting point, and prevent leaving visitors feeling frustrated. After adding a marker and testing it for their Artbots for the first time, visitors were very interested in figuring out new ways to have the Artbots draw different patterns. There was a lot of modifications made to the base models, which resulted in variations in patterns the Artbot drew. Simple changes, such as changing the speed or changing the location of the marker, made huge differences in the patterns that the Artbot drew. Visitors used some of our suggestions for modifications as inspiration and also came up with new ways to make changes to their Artbots. By the end of each day, all the Artbots were very unique and looked drastically different from the starting base models. We are excited that many visitors embraced the engineering design process by constantly making modifications, re-designing, and re-testing their Artbots.

During the first weekend, we initially put out more battery packs and motors out, which resulted in more visitors in the Lab at once. The Ingenuity Lab team noticed that it was much harder to facilitate the LEGO Artbot design challenge when there were too many visitors in the Lab at once. It led to less materials for every visitor and less facilitation that each visitor was able to receive. We tried to reducing the number of motors and battery packs out and reducing the number of design and build tables to see if it made any differences. By providing a less crowded environment in the Lab, we noticed a much more positive vibe and visitors were able to enjoy the design challenge more. There was enough materials for visitors to make explore with and we were able to provide more facilitation and interact with each visitor.

Make sure to stop by the Ingenuity Lab in March and April to design, build, and test your LEGO Artbot and check out the new Explore and Play Area activity!

Ingenuity Lab Open Hours: Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

[ingenuitylab]

March and April in the Lab: LEGO Artbots

After months of prototyping, the Ingenuity Lab is excited to launch our newest engineering design challenge, LEGO Artbots! Experiment with engineering and motion as you design, build, and test your own LEGO Artbot. Observe and compare how your motorized contraptions perform as you create surprising and unexpected patterns.

To help visitors get started with LEGO Artbots, we designed instruction booklets for five different base models. Once you have built a successful base model, feel free to investigate and explore different ways of how to modify your artbot. For example: Add or remove some LEGO pieces. Change the location of your marker. Try to add a second or a third marker. Create a machine that is using a weight or a gear. Create an artbot that goes in a circle. That is what engineers do too; they try new things and test different materials to come up with creative ways to solve problems.

Younger engineers will be able to design, build, and test their very own Wobblebot, a simpler drawing robot! Explore how changing the location and amount of markers can affect the pattern your Wobblebot draws.

Make sure to stop by the Ingenuity Lab in March and April to try our newest engineering design challenge! Please note that space and materials for the LEGO Artbot design challenge are limited. First come, first serve.

Ingenuity Lab Open Hours: Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.* (Room 175, C-Level)

*The Ingenuity Lab will be open for Spring Science Days (Monday, April 3–Friday, April 7) and will be featuring Marble Machines.

[ingenuitylab]

Members Event: LEGO Artbots

Last Sunday, the Ingenuity Lab hosted a special event for members to test our new and upcoming engineering design challenge – LEGO Artbots. This was the first time we let visitors test this new activity. The event was a great success – everyone really enjoyed the challenge and offered us valuable feedback to make improvements before launching it in March.

After a quick introduction, everyone got to pick a base model and built their own following the instruction booklets. After testing the base models, members started modifying their LEGO Artbots. Some common modifications were adding new LEGO pieces, changing the location of LEGO pieces, changing the location of the 3D pen holder, and adding extra markers. Participants noticed that minor changes to their LEGO Artbots resulted in very different drawings, highlighting the importance to constantly test your LEGO Artbot after making any modifications. We saw a lot of creative and unique LEGO Artbot designs that drew cool patterns.

Initially we were concerned that visitors would struggle getting started and would be overwhelmed by the amount of materials. However, the instruction booklets for the base models were really useful to help visitors get started with a functioning LEGO Artbot. Members offered us other great advice that we will use to further improve the engineering design challenge.

We will be launching the new LEGO Artbots engineering design challenge in the Ingenuity Lab in March. Come and join us to design, build, and test your own LEGO Artbot! 

[ingenuitylab]

Tinkering with LEGO Artbots

Over the past months, the Ingenuity Lab team has been engaged in #LEGOtinkering as we are prototyping LEGO artbots. These are LEGO machines that draw interesting and often unexpected patterns on paper. Visitors will be introduced to engineering and motion as they go through iterative prototyping to build and test LEGO artbots. They observe and compare how their motorized contraptions perform and discuss their design process.

The kit has been developed by the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium in collaboration with the LEGO Foundation and LEGO Idea Studio. We are excited to be invited as a group of early testers. 

Make sure to stop by the Ingenuity Lab in March and April and tinker with us to design Lego artbots.