The students of Advanced construction and programming section created a project on the theme of protecting the environment and endangered animals. Using the Lego WeDo 2.0 kit, they built three animal heroes who joined forces and fought to protect their forest and the endangered animals from human activity. Through this activity, they learned techniques for connecting gears and used sensors to program the movement of the animals.
The problem
Human technological achievements often come at the expense of nature. Their continuous efforts for discoveries, to improve living standards, or simply the way they live and move in their societies lead them to wrong actions that reflect their arrogant way of thinking. The reckless burning of forest areas, the excessive hunting of animals for skins or ivory, as well as the dumping of waste into rivers and seas threaten both the fauna and flora of the planet. It becomes clear, therefore, that human societies must be made aware immediately and protect the environment around them; otherwise, in the near future, they will face survival problems themselves. If the environment is negatively affected, then inevitably, there will be a disruption in the food chain and the preservation of species.
Our solution
The children, reflecting on the dangers the environment and animals are facing, created a protest model trying to raise awareness among the general public. The main heroes are a snail and a cat, who discover a nest with dinosaur eggs in the forest. They were surprised to find that the dinosaur was trying to save its species by staying well hidden in the forest so that humans wouldn't notice it. Then the snail and the cat decided to join forces and create a protest banner, proclaiming a better future for all animals. They wrote slogans of hope, salvation, and freedom for all creatures living in the forest and conveyed the message to humanity that the environment is the Home of all creatures living on the planet.
Functional specifications
The basic constructions of the model are three (3) animals: a snail, a cat, and a dinosaur. The children, by connecting bricks with axles, motors, gears, sensors, and wheels, gave movement to the animals, securing small signs with slogans of peace, love, and protection on them. The animals move on the model that depicts a forest, controlled by codes that the children created in the WeDo 2.0 app. In this way, they communicate to the rest of the animals in the forest as well as to people the message of reconciliation and environmental protection.
Technical specifications
All three constructions were created with the Lego kit, WeDo 2.0, and programmed in the WeDo app with icon blocks.
For the movement of the snail, the gear box with the worm gear and worm wheel was used. The axle connected to the motor drives the worm gear, which transfers the movement to the worm wheel, and this in turn drives a smaller axle, on either side of which there are two wheels. In this way, the simulation of the slow - harmonious movement of the snail is achieved. Programmatically, the snail starts its movement as soon as it hears our voice. It moves with forward and backward motion.
For the kitten, a gear down connection was made. The axle connected to the motor moves a small gear which transfers the movement to a larger one. The construction is secured on two beams. In front and behind them, there are 2 large axles, on which four wheels are mounted. The large gear moves the rear large axle, thus giving movement to the entire construction.
Finally, the dinosaur also has the gear down technique. The motor with the gears is connected to the back of the construction and gives movement to two large axles, on which the wheels are secured. At the base of the construction, at the front, is the control unit (brain) to which the long neck of the dinosaur and its head are attached. Below the dinosaur's mouth, the distance sensor is secured. This sensor was placed with the ultimate goal of controlling the robot's movement with it. The code is modified either to start the movement as soon as it detects an obstacle or to stop.
