The Robot Club of Sourcieux les Mines

News Robotic

The Robot Club was created in September 2016. The first objective of the club is to discover and learn the basics of robotics and the first years were years of testing, trying and choosing:

• Which hardware to use?
• Which languages to use?
• How to organise the club's functioning in order to best meet the expectations of the various members?

For a little more than two years now, the club has made its choices and, on the face of it, it works quite well: 

• We mainly use hardware from Makeblock (mBot 1, mBot 2, Augira board, etc.) and also the Lego EV3.
• We use the mBlock language but little by little we are integrating the use of Arduino C and Python.

All Wednesdays (except during school holidays) are reserved for beginners in collaboration with the MJC of Sourcieux les Mines. The children are aged between 8 and 11 years old and their learning takes place in three phases:

• First phase: Discovery of the mBot 1 and the mBlock language, from September to December, this phase ends with the realization of a program so that the robot succeeds in an imposed course.
• Second phase: Discovery of all the sensors and actuators that can be connected to an mBot 1 with a first approach of the Augira card for the encoder motors.
• Third phase: Following all that they have learned, the children must imagine, build and then program a robot, which constitutes their end-of-learning project.

Every fourth session is devoted to learning the Scratch language, mainly by creating games. This year the club has 11 beginners and the club meets every second Saturday including school holidays. It welcomes young people aged 10 to 18.

There are no fixed subjects in the club, each member is free to work on the project he or she wishes. There are no time constraints, and some projects have lasted for more than a season.

For example, this year the Robot Club of Sourcieux les Mines is working on :

• A vending machine (like a candy or drink dispenser)
• A biped robot
• A cocktail bar
• A chime
• A flame extinguishing robot (see RoboRave competition)
• A BeeBot
• A lift
• A labyrinth
• And many other projects

This year the club has 15 members.

On request, the club organises mini courses of one to three half-days with the media libraries of Craponne, Chaponost and Brignais. The club regularly takes part in the "Digital Days" event organised by the CCVG (Communauté de Communes de la Vallée du Garon).
Next date: February 2024.

The club also works with children hospitalised at the HFME (Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant) and the IHOPe (Institut d'Hématologie et d'Oncologie Pédiatrique).

In these interventions, in addition to the equipment mentioned above, the club uses robots of the brand OZOBOT. In this case it is more a question of providing the children, and sometimes their parents, with an occupation allowing them to forget where they are and why they are there. But sometimes it can be a complement to school learning, especially for children in secondary school.

The club has just opened its YouTube channel in order to put online videos of the achievements of the club members.

If you wish to contact the Robot Club of Sourcieux les Mines :

• Youtube channel : @robotclub2016
• M. Wogenstahl / President of the Sourcieux Robot Club / Mail : rc2016ds@gmail.com