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# Bee-Bots

A Bee-Bot is a programmable floor robot. Students enter instructions to move forward or backward in 15 cm steps or to turn right or left. When they press the <Go> button, the robot moves as instructed.

Students can learn how the Bee-Bot works by experimenting on the floor. You can also make a map of a 'treasure island' like the one below, with squares of side 15 cm superimposed on it. Then students can be challenged to program a Bee-Bot to navigate its way from one place to another.

Navigate your Bee-Bot around a treasure island.

To draw patterns, place the Bee-Bot on a large blank sheet of paper and insert a pencil in the place provided. Here are some possible challenges.

• Program the robot to draw a small square and return to its starting position. What is the pattern in the instructions?
• Draw a larger square. What is the unit of repeat now?
• Draw a rectangle and describe the pattern of instructions.
• What other interesting patterns can you make? For example:
• Draw a staircase:
$$\uparrow \rightarrow \uparrow \leftarrow$$
• Draw a spiral:
$$\uparrow \rightarrow \uparrow \rightarrow \uparrow \uparrow \rightarrow \uparrow \uparrow \rightarrow \uparrow \uparrow \uparrow \rightarrow \uparrow \uparrow \uparrow \rightarrow$$

Always encourage students to imagine the Bee-Bot’s movements before programming it and do not be surprised if students make many errors at the start.

Further ideas on how Bee-Bots can be used in the classroom can be found at Education Queensland's Learning Place.

Year 2: Describe and draw two-dimensional shapes, with and without digital technologies

Year 2: Identify and describe half and quarter turns

Year 3: Identify symmetry in the environment

Foundation Year: Sort and classify familiar objects and explain the basis for these classifications. Copy, continue and create patterns with objects and drawings

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