i've been trying to think of some neat, fun, stem-ish educational type projects to do with my kids this summer, and, well, i've got this raspberry pi (actually i have two), and i know you can build robotics with 'em

amazon is full of all kinds of add-ons like sensors and servos, but the part that worries me is the coding ... i haven't done any programming in a million years (i might be able to remember some html if i'm lucky) and i worry that will be a major source of frustration (and boredom) since my son is only eight years old

if i'm not mistaken, the language would be python, right? are there wysiwyg editors for python -- dreamweaver type apps?

i'd love some tips/advice on this! i'm hoping to build something better than a remote-controlled car, you know?

Last edited by TOS on Mon May 27, 2019 7:03 pm.

My first tip/advice is: fix the title

Now, do you want to build robots or learn to code? maybe both, but start with the fun part. I bet there's tons of projects/tutorials online you can try.

I believe those raspberry things have their own OS. You plug a monitor to set up apps you download to do things... I've seen videos and read about it, but I'm not sure.

Doing basic robotics and servo motor control is probably simpler with an Arduino. The good news (and bad news) is that the board (whether it's an Arduino or a Pi) is only a minor part of the cost of this stuff.

A bunch of companies sell kits with lessons, guidebooks, tutorials, etc.

There's an outfit called MakeBlock that even made their own GUI wrapper thing for the programming language that looks pretty slick.

https://www.amazon.com/Makeblock-Mechan ... 00W6Y194Y/

https://www.makeblock.com/software

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... uino+robot

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... y+pi+robot

https://www.retroist.com/2007/06/28/robotix/

I started programming when I was 11...and I was deeply fixated by it. Python would have been awesome back then. (BASIC is not easier than anything except Pascal)