Sphero

Instead of building an obstacle course to program the Sphero to navigate, Lex just decided to use our house as the obstacle course.  We put a little monkey sticker on the rug to mark the starting point (bonus information:  it is a scratch-n-sniff sticker that smells like bananas).

What we do on the weekend

Connor goes to band practice, and Lex and I eat Pho and drink boba tea.

Amazon packages get delivered with weekend treats.

Connor got a new synthesizer, and Lex got a Sphero Sprk.

The dogs have mixed feelings about the Sphero.  I can't tell if they love it or hate it.  

I'm not sure they know.

Today at Apple

This afternoon I took the boys to the Apple store again.  This time we did a Coding Lab using Sphero Robots.

First, they used some blue maze tape to create a maze on the floor of the Apple Store.

Then, they used the iPads to program their Sphero Robots to navigate the maze.

Distance = Rate x Time

They worked on their programs for a long time.

They did pretty well, in the end.

Lex really wants a Sphero.  He has asked when we can buy one at least 46 times.  These free workshops at the Apple store are expensive.

Big Bang Pizza

Tonight I took the family to a pizza place that I had heard about.  I didn't tell them anything about it, except that we were going to eat at a pizza place for dinner.

This is the hostess that greets you when you walk in the door:

The waitstaff is also made up of robots:

Selfie with a robot!

I had a deep dish slice of margarita pizza, and it was delicious.  We all ordered pizza by the slice, and we also had a huge salad and some wings and fries.  All the food was good.  

Solar Powered Surf Bot

Lex and I used his 14-in-1 Solar Robotics Kit to construct a surfing robot.  Think of a guy padding out on his surfboard on his way to catch the waves.

Then, we took it to our pool to test it out.  Connor thought it would be safer to test it in our bathtub, and that might have been a good idea, except for the whole solar-powered thing.  There are exactly zero windows in our two bathrooms.



It worked, but the waves in the pool were a little too large for our little bot, and it kept capsizing.

Solar Robots

The kids each have a build-your-own solar robot kit.  Each kit can be assembled into 14 different robots.  Not all at once.  One at a time.

Connor chose to build the slither bot first.

I don't know why he made that face for the picture.  He thought it was funny.  Even after I showed it to him.  Because boys.

Lex chose to build the wheel bot first.



This is what our homeschool looks like frequently.  Build a robot, get a cookie.  There are lots of cookies.  Also, Pokemon cards.



This guy is pretty cute.  He resembles Wall-E, I think.

Of course, once both of the boys had completed their robots and tested them outside in the sun, they wanted to race them.



They have plans to change their robot designs and then have another race soon.