Robot Basics:
• What is it?

Circuit Scribe is a nice tool to give students experience with basics of electric and electronic circuits. The base kit provides just enough components to demonstrate basic circuits and controls; additional modules can be purchased to do more advanced circuit functions as well as creative/inventive-type projects. The basic kit also comes with a users guide.

• What’s in the Box?

The base kit we used contained one battery module, two LED modules, one switch module, one resistor plug-in module, one transistor module, and one conductive ink pen. Circuits are drawn on a sheet of paper; a template helps with design and layouts of the circuits. When complete – the paper is placed on a covered metal sheet which enables the magnets of the circuit components “lock” down onto the “wires” drawn on the sheet of paper.

• How Much?

$59.99

• Age Range?

Advertised as ages 13 and up.

• How Did We Acquire it?

Purchased with library funds.

Ideas for Use

My recommendation for an initial set of projects would be as follows:
– Explain concept of electric circuit
– Demonstrate battery connected via two “wires” to LED
– Demonstrate battery connected via two “wires” to two LEDs in parallel
– Demonstrate use of single-throw/single-pole switch to control power to one LED
– Demonstrate use of two LEDs connected to battery in series
I don’t recommend use of the advanced components of the base kit (transistor, resistors, and capacitors) except under direct/advanced supervision with a proper test plan. My reasoning is simple. First, some of the components (resistors, capacitors) are small and loose – and are likely to get lost. Second, their use is not intuitive and some advanced knowledge is required to demonstrate their proper use. Is it reasonable to expect that, for our example, library staff hold this expertise? Probably not. Is it reasonable for younger library patrons to be able to use these components on their own? Probably not.

Time Involved

I recommend that the first time leader/teacher spend at least an hour on their own familiarizing themselves with the Circuit Scribe concepts, components, and basic use. I also recommend that they take the time to run through the experiments ahead of time to have a working prototype that can be demonstrated to students. There are a couple of reasons for this, as I will further explain in the review/comments section. One is that the conductive ink can be somewhat finicky, another is that the ink is rather expensive.
For actual instructional/demo use – I would allot a minimum of 10-15 minutes of time per student/group of students to develop a basic circuit consisting of the battery, two “wires”, and one LED light module. Additional time can be allotted to accommodate more advanced experiments.

One-time or Recurring Program

Circuit Scribe is intended to be a multi-use tool. With some exceptions, the components appear to be well designed and should provide a long service life.

Skills You Need

A basic understanding of circuits.

Other Tools You Need

A cheap electronic multi-meter would be a useful tool for “debugging” drawn “wires” that do not appear to work. One uses this to verify its ability to conduct electricity.

Good Stuff

I liked the idea of the conductive ink. I liked how some of the component modules were packaged in an easy-to-use component.

This Vine video shows some of the good stuff.  She wrote out “Brightly Shine” with conductive ink. Indeed.

Garrett doodled and Jack wrote Hello World (Java anyone?).

Frustrations

I found the ink pen to be frustrating to use. It didn’t always draw clear, crisp lines.
Even after following the hints/tips provided by the vendor I still found the ink to be problematic.
I also thought that the resistor/capacitor module was not well designed.

As delivered – one uses the component in a circuit and then manually plugs in the desired resistor(s)/capacitor to do what the circuit calls for. I thought this design was cumbersome – almost to the point of being an afterthought. A better approach might be to incorporate the discrete component into its own module. To demonstrate use of multiple resistors – the component modules might be designed to be “stackable” – applying the resistance in parallel.

Ending Thoughts/Observations

As a kid growing up during the Nixon/Ford era – I had my share of experiences with the electronics kits of the era – sets by Heathkit, Tandy, Lafayette, and others, along with the build-it-yourself kits that made transistor radios and other useful things. These typically had lots of wires, discrete electronic components (“cool, dad – it’s a transistor – what’s a transistor?”), some use of soldering guns (or not, depending on whether parents are accepting of solder burns on dining room tables) – and usually very little in the way of useful learning opportunity. More often than not – components would be irreparably damaged due to misuse before any practical experiment using them could be completed.
So – some things have changed considerably over the past 30-40 years and some things have stayed pretty much the same. Electric/electronic circuit basics haven’t really changed much – and it’s good to see that Circuit Scribe embraces these while it also embraces newer components such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and more.
Each new generation of electronic kit has refined the usefulness of components, typically through modularization to make the pieces more “plug-n-play” easy and Circuit Scribe is no exception.
What sets Circuit Scribe apart from its peers is that the “wires” which connect the various components together – thus completing the circuit – are drawn freehand on paper using special conductive ink pens. This has a natural “hands-on” appeal for kids that want to draw and make their drawings “do something.”

A project as simple as connecting a battery to an LED actually generated two bright lights – one on the LED itself, and one on the child’s face when they realize that the wires they “drew” actually worked!
We had some problems using the supplied conductive ink pens. First, students tended to use them as they might a regular pen – with downward pressure that generates a narrow line of ink. Second, we used a hard surface for drawing and design – in hindsight, a softer surface might have worked better but our lab environment did not allow for this. Third, the pens seemed to empty fairly quickly – causing problems for a couple of students attempting to draw circuits. Fourth, all of the students required “debugging” time whereby they’d draw a circuit and then we’d spend time inspecting their result to look for flaws which might result in breaks of electric current and thus an open circuit. In some cases – students were able to quickly remedy faults and achieve success; in other cases – they became frustrated when they couldn’t fix things and see success.

Another problem was the natural tendency for students to “doodle” while trying to draw circuits. In some cases – this was a success – mixing creativity with success, while in other cases it was a failure – using the expensive pen as a doodling tool without understanding what was needed. One option might be to first have the student draw their circuits on regular paper with normal ink to gain “approval” prior to making the commitment using the conductive ink pen.
A “hindsight is 20/20” thought – having an electric multimeter tester available might be handy for testing how well student’s lines are drawn – by demonstrating whether they’ll hold an electric current or not.
There are a number of web pages that provide information for making one’s own conductive ink. However tempting this might be – one has to carefully consider all potential ramifications of doing so – especially from a safety point of view.

I tried a low-tech substitute – a high-quality old fashioned graphite lead pencil – without success. Graphite is a conductor of electricity – perhaps not as good as a metal or even the conductive ink provided by Circuit Scribe. But it’s proven technology – and it’s readily available. A good experiment might be to draw a line using Circuit Scribe’s ink and a graphite pencil and test each with a multimeter to find out how close/disparate each is in terms of electric conductivity.

Don’t get me wrong – I think that what the Circuit Scribe folks have done is marvelous. However, from a repeatable project perspective – use of the Circuit Scribe ink is for all intents and purposes unsustainable from a cost perspective (when each pen costs nearly $20USD).

Overall Rating:

I would give it a C+. The ink gets both high and low points for its uniqueness and cost/effectiveness. And I think the resistor/capacitor components could have been done better to make them more ‘foolproof.’

With this new weekly feature, Ten Dollar Tuesdays, we will be tackling the budget question with programs you can run at your library for under $10. We’ll also address the interest and support questions by asking you to share your inexpensive STEM programs in the comments, and to let us know what kinds of feedback you’ve gotten when you’ve tried these or similar programs in your buildings!

Take It Apart

Cost: $0

Age range: tweens & teens

Group size: Up to 20, depending on materials

Staff amounts: 1

• Give kids an opportunity to explore how things work, how they’re put together, and what happens if they they take them apart.
• Ask for donations of broken appliances (no tube TVs or microwaves) and computers, supply tools, and let kids explore.
• Disassembling a PC is a great learning opportunity, and you don’t necessarily need to know a lot about computer hardware. I supplied printed diagrams for kids to match up the components, and I learned a lot from YouTube videos. You may need special screwdrivers for some of the screws on the computer case; our IT department was happy to let us borrow those, and a staff member even helped at the program
• Taking things apart can very exciting, so caution your tweens and teens not to get carried away and get scrapes or cuts on sharp parts
• Ask kids what similarities they saw, what surprised them, what parts they already knew about, and what they would like to learn more about
• After the program, you may be able to salvage some parts for a future craft program (another Ten Dollar Tuesday!), or check with your local recycling facility to see what they can accept.

Have you done a Take it Apart program? Share your experience with us!

It’s a little like going into a comic book shop for me. I’m not a lifelong comics fan like some librarians, so when I started venturing into comic book stores, I was a little trepidatious, and worried that I’d ask stupid questions or, buy the wrong stuff, or well… have to deal with Comic Book Guy.

Worst. Librarian. Ever.

But really, the folks I’ve talked to are so glad you’re there and interested in doing some cool maker stuff. It’s not scary. It’s not intimidating. (It’s not busy, so you’ll get good customer service.) But you know what? The Radio Shack folks and the comic book store folks, they’re kind of like librarians.

They’ve got information about stuff in their collection that we want to know more about but are unsure about where to start. And I don’t know if it’s in their training manual or I’ve just gotten lucky, but every time I’ve asked for help (and that would be every time I’ve gone into one of their stores) they’ve moved out from behind the counter to show me exactly what I asked about. And when I ask what new cool robotics stuff they’re hearing about or have in stock, they’re happy to chat, and excited to hear that the Maker movement is happening in libraries.

So, if you see a project that you’re thinking about trying and you’re weighing a trip to Radio Shack or the shipping costs of ordering online, try stopping in to the brick-and-mortar store. Just like we want those local bookshops to survive, we should want local places with maker tools to survive too. You may be pleasantly surprised and encouraged to try more hands-on tech. Tune in later this week to see what I bought on my last trip and how the program I used it in went down.

• What is it? Squishy Circuits are a set that helps you explore circuits and electricity using dough.
• What’s in the Box? I used this set: http://squishycircuitsstore.com/kits.html
• How Much? $25.00 for one set, plus cost of supplies for dough.
• Age Range? Our program was for Grades 3 and up, but I think you could go as low as Kindergarten or 1st grade.
• How Did We Acquire it? My library purchased sets after I played with sets we acquired through the ILEADUSA grant funds.

What we did

I set up the Squishy Circuits as part of my library’s new “Library Makers” programs. We are focusing on different ways to incorporate the making movement and also STEAM initiatives. Additionally we are just hoping to try a lot of new programs. Our program was for grades 3 and up. We ended up with 3 kids, one in middle school and two third graders. All of our attendees were girls, which I thought was kind of great.

I set out the two squishy kits and the dough. I also printed out a bunch of the ideas for making circuits from the squishy circuits website: http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/apthomas/SquishyCircuits/

The kids just experimented with the kits. They had a very good time thinking creatively and it was an easy program to run.

Time Involved

It is pretty minimal. I just had to spend about a half hour making the dough and then another half hour playing with the circuits before the program.

One-time or Recurring Program

We set it up as a one-time program, but this could easily be repeated.

Skills Needed

Motor skills to work with the dough, the rest is easy.

Good Stuff

I really enjoyed running this program. I think there is a lot of value in programs with smaller numbers. You get to talk to the kids and see what they are thinking. Squishy circuits could be done with bigger groups, but some of the magic of this program was that it was a smaller group.

Frustrations

I had trouble with one of my doughs, it was overly sticky. But I think that was the bakers fault. Although the dough still worked for the circuit.

Ending Thoughts/Observations

Try Squishy Circuits, it really is very simple.

Overall Rating

Great, give it a go.

Goldmine Electronics Racing Robot

This week, three of us* attended a Tinker meeting where we heard about some great technology programs in libraries, felt a little overwhelmed, learned to solder, and built a Racing Robot. Our full review after the jump. *Sharon, Kim, and Heather

Robot Basics:

• What is it?

The Racing Robot is made up of two printed circuit boards (PC boards), a handful of electronics components (resistors, diodes, LEDs, capacitors, and the like), a battery, and a motor. Components are soldered on to the boards, the boards are attached, wheels and a battery are added, and if all goes well, you’ve created a robotic car.

• What’s in the Box?

package contents

more parts

All of the pieces are included, as well as the PC boards. The kit also includes a hand full of practice pieces – real electronics components that can be used to learn how to solder before building the robot. These pieces are separated out and clearly marked.

• What else is needed?

This kit requires that you have a number of other items: A soldering iron, solder, needle nosed pliers, wire clippers, solder wick (which is used to recapture excess solder) and a 9V battery are essential.  A “helping hand” or “third hand” which is a stand with alligator clips that allows you to use both of your hands and not worry about holding the board isn’t essential, but is highly recommended.

• How much?

This kit sells for $16.85. The soldering iron and additional supplies could cost as little as $10 and aside from the solder, can be reused for future projects.

• Age Range?

The librarian who presented the program has done similar projects with his 6th-8th graders and would consider using this kit with them as well. That seems a good age for the end product, but because of the difficulty, we recommend that you start with a small group – ideally kids you already know will be able to handle the hot soldering iron responsibly – or older teens. Ask yourself how comfortable you would be with the group using hot glue guns to attach seed beads to a credit card, then add an extra layer of caution.

• How we acquired it

Working together

The kit we built was provided free of charge by the Tinker group.

Ideas for use:

• time involved? one-time or recurring program?

It took the three of us close to two hours to build the kit. If this kit were used in a library program, we suggest planning for at least that much time, or splitting it into two or even three sessions. One suggested scenario is:

• Day 1: Learn to solder; attach the practice pieces, then remove them
• Day 2: Begin building the robot
• Day 3: Complete the robot, test, troubleshoot, race

• extension activities

Once you have a handle on the kit, you could dig into each electronic component and learn why it does what it does. If your group is building multiple kits, comparing one to another and having a conversation about what worked best is another option. And of course, racing the kits! The biggest extension though is taking the knowledge of how to solder into other projects.

• skills you need

Soldering… on the wrong side of the board

Patience, perseverance, and a sense of humor were essential for us. Since this kit is a “learn to solder” project, participants need not know how to solder going into the program, but you, as the facilitator should absolutely know how to solder before instructing the kids. Build this kit on your own and you’ll have enough experience to help them. You can also learn from our mistakes! As you can see in the picture here, we placed the components on top of the board and soldered underneath them. It was pretty tricky at times. Turns out we were assembling it all upside down and should’ve pushed the components up through the other side of the board, then soldered them to the PCB, then trimmed the extra bits off. Easy, right? Now you know.  You’re welcome.

Good stuff

We learned how to solder! It worked*! It was even kind of fun after we got the hang of it. It was cool to see these random pieces become a Real Thing that really did something too.

Frustrations

Instructions, page 1 of 8

*Ok, it sort of worked. Assembling it upside down meant that some of our circuitry was bad. The lights didn’t turn on, and we blew a resistor.

The instructions for this kit are definitely not beginner friendly. Pieces aren’t clearly marked, terminology is not well explained, and everything is crammed together, leaving little white space for the eye (or mind) to rest. If you use this kit, we strongly suggest rewriting your own instructions for the group. Sharon suggested that a intro activity would be giving kids a paper template with paper “components” that they could attach in the correct places. Learning the placement of the components was tricky, and we were glad that we could remove pieces a few times. Another intro activity might be explaining the markings on resistors. At the suggestion of the group leader, we used a resistor calculator to determine what goes where, and this proved to be an invaluable tool. Another helpful guide would be photographs of the different components with their names. For us, never having had to distinguish a capacitor from a diode, the descriptions and electrical schematics were not enough.

Ending Thoughts/Observations

Our robot

Are we glad we attended the Tinker group and tried our hands at soldering? Absolutely. It was scary but rewarding. We can all say that we’ve done it now, and can use that knowledge to gauge our comfort level in trying it out with teens or kids. However, strictly speaking about the kit, it is not one that we would recommend for those just dipping their toes into STEM programming.

Rating

DANGER! WILL ROBINSON!

Squishy Circuits Kit

While not technically a robot, this is a good project to begin explorations. It helps participants understand some critical basic concepts about electronics: conductivity, resistance, that kind of thing. It is inexpensive, and works well with a surprisingly wide age range.  The TED Talk below the jump explains it in about 4 minutes.

Robot Basics:

• Squishy Circuits 

• How did we get it?

  • This review focuses on the concept rather than the product itself. I used wire and LEDs that I had at home and purchased batteries with my own money.

• What’s in the Box?

  • 1 – Recipe Card
  • 1 – Motor
  • 1 – Piezoelectric Buzzer
  • 1 – Mechanical Buzzer
  • 1 – 4 AA Battery Pack (batteries not included)
  • 25 – LEDs in Red, Green, White, Yellow and Blue.

If you want to avoid the kit and DIY, the items can be purchased piecemeal at a Radio Shack or other similar stores.

• 6V lantern battery
• copper wire
• LEDs

• How much?

  • $25 for the kit
  • Additional $10 to buy simple grocery store ingredients for dough, though you likely have them on hand already

• Age Range?

  • I’ve run this program with kids as young as 4 and as old as 13. All found it fun and engaging, but the attention spans, interest levels, and the level at which we could discuss the concepts varied.

Using the multimeter and squishy circuit skills

Ideas for use

• time involved

Making the dough will take some time, possibly time at home if your library doesn’t have kitchen facilities as the conductive dough needs to be cooked on a stovetop. It’s not very time consuming, but plan for an hour of your time at home to do this, just to be on the safe side.

Setup is fairly minimal once at the program site.

This program could work in a variety of time frames – everything from being availible on a table as a self-directed program, or with more staff involvement as a traditional one hour program.

• one-time or recurring program

  • Either; if recurring, you could step through the many different activities included, or segue into more complex electronics and robotics programs.

• extension activities

• skills you need

  • none

• other tools you need

  • pot, stovetop, bowl, spoons, food coloring, flour, salt, sugar, cream of tartar for cooked dough and plastic bags to store them in. Table covers for program area. A multimeter is a fun extra tool to have and can be gotten cheaply.

Good stuff

This is a simple, inexpensive, flexible, easy to understand project.

Frustrations

Honestly, none.

Ending Thoughts/Observations

I would highly encourage libraries to try this out. When I tested it with three middle school boys, I was pleasantly surprised to see that each of them explored the material in his own way, focusing on different capabilities of the kit. One built a battery, one took advantage of the “squishy” aspect and built an elaborate electrified dough contraption, and the third mainly explored the multimeter. In the end, each of them helped the other with his chosen project using the skills he learned in his own explorations. It was library magic!

Overall Rating: