Unplugged Lesson
Beginner
40 mins
Teacher/Student led
+50 XP
What you need:
IWB/Projector/Large Screen

Digital Robot

Get ready to meet a robot on your screen that follows your commands to draw amazing patterns! You'll learn to give clear instructions, using direction buttons to create shapes step by step, and see your code come to life.

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    1 - Introduction

    So far, the students have been the acting as robots themselves, following instructions to make patterns and draw pictures. They have learned that to get the right result, the sequencing and order of our code has to be followed closely.

    Today, we're going to meet a robot that lives on a screen. This robot can follow all the same commands we used to draw, and it will show us just how good it is at following our code.

    Materials Needed:

    • A Screen/Projector: To display the simple web application.

    • Worksheets: Have the "Drawing Robot" worksheets for reference.

    • Markers: To draw example shapes before moving to digital drawing.

    2 - Paintbrush Path

    Introduce the Paintbrush Path.

    Pupils will direct the brush with clear commands  to try to recreate the target image shown on the left hand side grid.

    Do a quick demo: point to the start, read one command at a time, and show how the brush draws a line after each move.

    Then let the class suggest the next single command to build the picture step by step. This warm-up tunes their direction and sequencing skills for the rest of today’s lesson.

    3 - Robot Letter Tracer

    Tell the students you are going to code the digital robot to draw letters on the dot grid, just like they drew shapes with their markers.

    Choose a simple letter (like L or T) and sketch it on the board using a 4×4 dot grid.

    Click the arrow buttons in the order the robot must move to trace that letter.

    As you click, the code will appear on the screen, building the sequence.

    Once you are done, press the “Run” button. The digital robot will then draw the letter on the screen.

    Robot Letter Tracer

    Use the arrows to code the robot so its trail matches the target letter on the dots.

    Target Letter

    Letter: L

    Yellow dots show the letter. The outlined dot is the robot's starting point.

    Your Code

    Add arrows to build your program (tap a chip to remove).
    Ready. Add arrows to trace the letter.
    🌟

    Nice coding!

    Your robot’s trail matches the letter.

    4 - Drawing Robot

    Explain to the students that this robot is very fast, but it isn’t very smart! It doesn't know what a 'square' or a 'staircase' is. It only knows four words: Up, Down, Left, and Right. To make a shape, we have to build our instructions of arrows in the queue. If one arrow is wrong, the robot will get lost!

      Have the students use their fingers to trace the path on the screen first.

        Click the arrow buttons. Watch the "Code Queue" fill up.

        Press the green Run Code button.

        If the path is correct, the Success Banner will pop up!


        Drawing Robot — 4×4 Grid

        You are the Programmer. Give the Robot arrows to draw a shape!

        Square: 2x2 box
        Rectangle: 3 wide x 2 tall
        Staircase: Steps going down
        L/T: Letter shapes
        Your code will appear here...
        Ready! Start at the green dot.
        🚀

        Code Success!

        You programmed the robot perfectly!

        5 - Secret Shape Challenge

          Tell pupils they’re going to write their own code to challenge a friend.

            Put pupils in pairs. One is the Programmer, the other is the Robot.

              Give each Programmer a small grid (4×4 or 3×3) and ask them to choose a simple shape or letter in their head – for example:
              a 2×2 square, a little rectangle, an L, a T, or a short staircase.

                The Programmer writes the arrow code only (➡️ ⬇️ ⬅️ ⬆️) starting from the top-left dot.
                They do not draw the picture – just the code.

                The Robot gets a blank grid. They follow the arrows carefully, drawing the path as they go.

                When they finish, they guess the shape or letter they’ve drawn.

                  The Programmer then shows what they were aiming for. If it doesn’t match, they can debug together and fix the code.

                    Let them swap roles and repeat with a new shape.

                    If you like, finish by asking a few pairs to share a favourite “secret code” with the whole class and see if the class can guess the shape before you run it.

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