Trundlebot - The Educational Robot

I was interviewed for this month's issue of the MagPi magazine and the Trundlebot gets a quick mention. https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/issues/131/

The first batch of prototype kits are ready.

These are the friends, family, and extra keen supporter prototype batch. They are to learn about issues newcomers will have building them and are as much of a learning opportunity for me as the people building them. In short they are not ready for primetime just yet, but do get in contact if you would like one.

Last weekend I took the Trundlebot along to Maker Space (the Newcastle and Gateshead hack space) to show off at The Late Shows. This was an ideal opportunity to show off the project and get some feedback from a new audience.

The event was well attended by a good crowd. It was enjoyable and provided some useful feedback. The three main takeaways I have are...

1. A drag and drop interface is not as intuitive to many as I had thought. This surprised me but something I should look in to further. It may be different on a different day, or it could be that the world has chanced as I had not noticed. Some more testing with different audiences should shed some light on this. I always thought of the drag and drop interface as one of several ways to programme the Trundebot, but it may be better as a secondary option.
2. There is an expectation that there is a task to be completed and an achievement to be "unlocked". This is not such a problem as I anticipate producing tutorials for some set projects to get people going, but it does highlight that not everyone is comfortable jumping straight in.
3. Small spelling maitakes are all but invisible to the average person. There has been a corker all the way thought and no one had spotted it until then. I am going to need to assistance with internationalisation so I will add English to the list of Languages I need help with. ;-)

My hope for this project is that it will result in others creating a Trundlebot and learning some programming gaining some enjoyment from it. The one part of the build that is best manufactured by a professional is the PCB, and this is a significantly lower cost if manufactured in larger numbers. As a result I am looking at selling the boards, and possibly even full kits if there is interest.

Please met me know if that is something that interests you.