The robots At our Code Club, we currently have two robots both are made by Dexter Industries and are controlled from a Raspberry Pi. Our BrickPi robot uses a Raspberry Pi model 1B, combined with Lego Mindstorms more recent EV3 motors and sensors Our GoPiGo robot uses the same model Raspberry Pi, with one ultrasonic sensor a Raspberry Pi camera, and a servo that moves both Here’s an photo from when we first put them together:

Python built-in functions and modules At Code Club our first Python scripts usually involve using built-in commands, otherwise known as functions e.g. print(), input(), int(). A list of built-in functions for Python 3 is available here. Sooner or later we might want to do something a little more interesting, like generate some random-ish numbers, or process some information in file, or connect to another computer. In some of the Python tutorials we’ve done, you’ll notice the import statement being used to import more functions from the the Python standard library.

This post is primarily about some of the discussions we’ve had about facillitating Python coding at our Code Club, some of our experiences as a Code Club, and some of my ideas about what the kids can use Python skills for. Dealing with a variety of different operating systems for a variety of different projects, I try to use whatever tools are available on the platform we’re using, and do the job.