SPHERO’s 101

Current research tells us that STEM education is vital for contemporary Australia. It underpins our economic and social growth and will provide some of the most exciting employment opportunities for the children in our schools. Students have been continually engaged in digital technologies and STEM opportunities in their learning. For this to happen authentically teachers also need to learn how to embed the learning opportunities into their programs. This week some staff attended an afternoon session with Mrs Sarah Blundell to learn how to use our latest technology - Sphero’s. We explored simple coding, drawing a square and navigating a set course.  

What is a Sphero?

Spheros are a spherical robot toy. They are a white orb wrapped in polycarbonate plastic, capable of rolling around, changing colors, running programs, and being controlled by a smartphone or tablet. Spheros:-

Roll - Sphero robots can roll at a given speed and heading for a given amount of time.

Colour - Sphero robots can light up in any colour.

Sensors - Sphero robot's internal sensors include an IMU and Locator.

Bluetooth - Sphero robots connect to devices such as iPads through Bluetooth.

Robot Languages - Sphero robots support three 'onboard' programming languages. Programs written in these languages are 'run' on the robot.

While we did not walk out as experts we did have plenty of fun mapping, coding, drawing and navigating our way around the Makerspace track.  We look forward to sharing our new Spheros with our students in Term 4.

Thank you to Mrs Blundell for giving up her time to help us learn more.