This September, Parallax has been in business for 35 years. As part of our celebration, we asked our customers to tell us your Parallax story. This is one we received from our community which will be shared throughout the month.
"I have often told people that teaching engineering was a vital element in my lasting 32 years as an educator. I was doubtful I could have repeated the same traditional lessons in a typical traditional classroom for that length of time. It was the act of putting the challenge to the student with my responsibility being to design, create, and support those challenges that kept me forever learning. I have Parallax to thank for being an integral part of this. I know over a thousand students of mine have been blessed by the work you’ve done in providing such a welcoming website that provides support for education by constantly updating training materials, curriculum, software, and hardware. Congratulations on the past 35 years."
Around the year 2000 my high school wanted an elective class for seniors who were considering engineering as a college major. I was tasked with developing this class from scratch. I knew this would be challenging as there was not much curriculum readily available related to engineering at the secondary level at that time. There were many hands-on activities that could be done (Cartesian diver comes to mind) involving scientific principles but not what I needed to build a year-long curriculum that was stimulating, connected, and worthwhile.
I had settled on using Lego Mindstorm robots in the beginning of the year in order that students engage in the Design Process, a rare activity at that time. I needed something relevant to continue the flow and rigor of the course after the Lego experience, however. I don’t remember exactly how I came across Parallax but I think it was a magazine cover of some sort. It was just what I needed to take the students to the next level in robotics in that they would need to wire up the circuits involving motors and sensors as well as develop the programming required by the BASIC Stamp.
I used the INEX-1000 boards and the What’s a Microcontroller (WAM) curriculum so that students could build their skills in electronics and programming. Combined with the mechanical design principles required by the previous Lego building this was an early version of what today would be called Mechatronics.
I’ve always been impressed with how Parallax has adapted to the changing technology over the years. Although it was challenging to keep up with these changes from the educator side it was well worth it as the capabilities and relevance of the robot increased thus allowing more varied tasks to be carried out.
One of my first major design challenges for the students was a crude can sweeper developed using the Boe-Bot shown above; the front end was made of balsa wood and sheet metal. The photo below right shows the progression of robots I’ve used from the Boe-Bot (BASIC Stamp) to the Shield-Bot (Arduino) to the most recent Cyber:Bot (Micro:bit) along with the INEX-1000 board. My next project is to become more familiar with the Cyber:Bot and what it can do.
3-d printing became commonplace in the last 10 to 15 years which made more capable and better designed front-end attachments possible. Another photo above shows an attachment that will hold a magnet underneath, LED lights and light sensors in the holes to do line-following, and inside slots for an ultrasonic sensor.
The ultimate challenge for my students in the 2007 – 08 year was the Final Exam Boe-Bot obstacle course. The robot carried a magnet close to the surface that would trigger a circuit consisting of an overhead light that randomly flashed from 1 to 5 times when the magnet passed over a certain spot in the middle of the course. The robot had to count the number of flashes and communicate that number audibly before moving on. If the flashes numbered 3 or more the robot should turn right at the next double black, otherwise turn left.
If turning right the robot would have to use infrared to open and close a door blocking the path. If turning left the robot would have to use infrared to go through a maze without line following. The robot would in theory be able to follow the course forever. If you can hear the students in the video, they were completely invested in successfully doing this and awed by each other’s work.
I taught a 3-week engineering camp at the local community college every summer for 20 years and used the same Parallax curriculum and hardware that challenged and stimulated the students. At the last day exposition, where the students showed off their accomplishments, the parents came away proud and amazed at what their kids had accomplished in this short amount of time.
I have often told people that teaching engineering was a vital element in my lasting 32 years as an educator. I was doubtful I could have repeated the same traditional lessons in a typical traditional classroom for that length of time. It was the act of putting the challenge to the student with my responsibility being to design, create, and support those challenges that kept me forever learning. I have Parallax to thank for being an integral part of this. I know over a thousand students of mine have been blessed by the work you’ve done in providing such a welcoming website that provides support for education by constantly updating training materials, curriculum, software, and hardware. Congratulations on the past 35 years.
I retired in March of 2020 but developed a couple of physics apparatuses using the Micro:bit. The circular motion setup is demonstrated here. The Micro:bit tutorials on the Parallax website have the now-to-be-expected high quality that allowed me to get the system working.
Sincerely,
Neil Schmidgall
Glenbrook South High School – retired
4000 West Lake Ave
Glenview, IL 60026
