Lesson 0 – Setting up the mBot Ranger

Study Video

Tutorial 

  1. In this tutorial we will focus on putting together the Ranger and then setting up the Ranger for use with our preferred coding software.
  2. Let’s work through the items in this section and complete the setup process.
  3. We’ll step through the “Getting Started” guide and complete a lot of the basic setup  – <HTML> | <PDF>
    1. Getting started with mBlock
    2. What is mBlock
    3. Getting mBlock
    4. A tour around mBlock
    5. Playing with scratch
    6. Connect your robot/boards
    7. Connect through 2.4G dongle
    8. Connect through Bluetooth
    9. Using mBlock blocks for coding
    10. Using mBlock Arduino capability for coding
  4. Watch the video to see how to use the mBlock App to control the mBot robot
  5. Clicking on the each of the above links will open them up a new window.
  6. Once you’ve connected to the mBot using your preferring coding solution (mBlock on PC or mBlockly app on the tablet) you are ready to move onto the next tutorial.

Additional Resources –

  1. Additional links –
    1. mBot Ranger Construction Manual
    2. Related Software
    3. Makeblock Resources for Code Learners
    4. Line following maps
  2. Free books on mBlock programming –
    1. Textbook of Algorithm And Programming, Cycle 4, Teacher’s book
    2. Textbook of Algorithm And Programming, Cycle 4, Student’s book
    3. mBlock, Kids Maker Rocks with the Robots
  3. Clicking on the each of the above links will open them up a new window.

Prerequisites

Here are the list of prerequisites for working on the Makeblock mBot robotics development track.

  1. This robotics development track makes extensive use of the Makeblock mBot. Head over to OzToyLib and pick-up a Makeblock mBot.
  2. You will need to download and install the Makeblock mBlock 5 code editor for your laptop/computer.
  3. The mBlock 5 code editor supports block based coding, coding in the C++ (Arduino) language including Python.
  4. Once you’ve obtained the Makeblock mBot and installed the mBlock 5 code editor for your laptop/computer you are ready to proceed with the tutorials.
  5. MakeBlock also offers applications for use on your tablet / hand held device. Options for the Andriod / iPad include – mBlockly or MakeBlock HD. See the Makeblock mBlock link for additional details.

Reference 

  1. To learn more about the mBot Ranger head over to – <Link>
  2. To download PC software (mBlock5, mBlock3) head over to – <Link>
  3. To download apps for your Andriod tablet or Apple iPad head over to – <Link>

Questions