You don’t get the instructions with the kit (unless you buy the activity add-on to the software), but you can download them for free from the LEGO website.
There are twelve official models you can make with the WeDo set. The tilt sensor keeps the sounds in sync with his movements. Scratch code for controlling ‘Drumming Monkey’. An EV3 set is also at least twice the price – so I’d much rather go for a WeDo set any day. Every robot you make, you build brick by brick – so you really can make absolutely anything. This brings us to what I really love about WeDo – it uses classic studded LEGO bricks, rather than the studless Technic beams used in the MINDSTORMS EV3 set, so it really feels like LEGO. And if that’s not enough for you, there’s a resource set with another 326 bits, but it doesn’t include any more electronic components – you have to buy them separately. Now, how about the LEGO WeDo kit itself? The base kit includes some 158 elements – a mixture ranging from standard four by twos to cogs and gears borrowed from the LEGO Technic range. As each kit only comes with one hub, this isn’t likely to be a problem for most of us. This limits you to using just two electronic components at a time: a motor and a sensor, two sensors, two motors, a motor and a light, etc. The main limitation is that with Scratch you can only use one WeDo hub at once – if you’re using the LEGO WeDo Software you can connect up to three at once. You can control the motor speed and direction, find out how far in front of the distance sensor the nearest surface is, and in which direction the tilt sensor is angled.Īll of these blocks can be fully integrated with any Scratch program, so you could use the tilt sensor to control a sprite, or have the motor react to events in a game. A selection of new blocks will now appear, offering very self-explanatory options for controlling the motor and reading the sensors. If you don’t see these options, you may need to update your Scratch to a newer version. Next select ‘Add an Extension’ and then LEGO WeDo.
Once you’ve got your kit, just plug it into the USB slot, start up Scratch and go to ‘More Blocks’.
Having said that, I would recommend buying the Power Function Lights, as they’re relatively cheap, and are fully compatible with Scratch and the WeDo hardware. The LEGO WeDo Software is sold separately, but you don’t need anything extra if you’re using Scratch instead. This kit includes a hub you plug into your computer, a motor, a tilt sensor, a distance sensor, and loads of LEGO blocks. This post is all going to be about the original WeDo. LEGO launched a new version of WeDo, WeDo 2.0, in January 2016, and the Scratch team has since released an extension that works with it. If instead you’re using the Scratch Offline Editor, everything you need is already built-in, so you’re good to go. The plug-in doesn’t seem to work reliably across all browsers and operating systems – so if you’re having problems try a different browser. If you go for the first approach, you also have to install a browser plug-in (see here). You can either use the online version at the website, or you can download and install the Scratch 2.0 Offline Editor. Scratch is developed by The Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is completely free to use. If it’s red, you need to install the browser plug-in. The yellow dot next to LEGO WeDo in the middle column indicates that the WeDo hub hasn’t yet been plugged into the computer. Scratch once the WeDo extension has been enabled. I want to tell you about how I’ve been using Scratch and WeDo with children in the UK. Even better, Scratch has a built-in extension that allows it to work with LEGO’s WeDo robot kits. It’s a child-friendly system where you code by dragging around colored blocks and snapping them together – and for that reason some schools call it ‘Computer LEGO’. You may have heard of the computer programming language Scratch.
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