Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Introduction to Chapter 6

Description

This lecture introduces the story of the very first robot, discussing its programming, pre-programmed behaviors, and educational applications in different school levels. The instructor also touches on the robot's electric torque sensor from 1915.

In MOOC

The Thymio robot as a tool for discovering digital science

Official source

Related concepts (7)

Computer programming

Computer programming is the process of performing particular computations (or more generally, accomplishing specific computing results), usually by designing and building executable computer programs. Programming involves tasks such as analysis, generating algorithms, profiling algorithms' accuracy and resource consumption, and the implementation of algorithms (usually in a particular programming language, commonly referred to as coding).

Functional programming

In computer science, functional programming is a programming paradigm where programs are constructed by applying and composing functions. It is a declarative programming paradigm in which function definitions are trees of expressions that map values to other values, rather than a sequence of imperative statements which update the running state of the program. In functional programming, functions are treated as first-class citizens, meaning that they can be bound to names (including local identifiers), passed as arguments, and returned from other functions, just as any other data type can.

Declarative programming

In computer science, declarative programming is a programming paradigm—a style of building the structure and elements of computer programs—that expresses the logic of a computation without describing its control flow. Many languages that apply this style attempt to minimize or eliminate side effects by describing what the program must accomplish in terms of the problem domain, rather than describing how to accomplish it as a sequence of the programming language primitives (the how being left up to the language's implementation).

Programming language

A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming language is usually split into the two components of syntax (form) and semantics (meaning), which are usually defined by a formal language. Some languages are defined by a specification document (for example, the C programming language is specified by an ISO Standard) while other languages (such as Perl) have a dominant implementation that is treated as a reference.

Procedural programming

Procedural programming is a programming paradigm, derived from imperative programming, based on the concept of the procedure call. Procedures (a type of routine or subroutine) simply contain a series of computational steps to be carried out. Any given procedure might be called at any point during a program's execution, including by other procedures or itself. The first major procedural programming languages appeared circa 1957–1964, including Fortran, ALGOL, COBOL, PL/I and BASIC. Pascal and C were published circa 1970–1972.

Related lectures (38)

Programming Concepts: Variables and Expressions

Covers fundamental programming concepts such as algorithms, variables, and expressions in C++.

Understanding Microcontrollers: Programming in C/Arduino

Covers the basics of programming microcontrollers using C language and Arduino platform.

Select the Right Costume

Covers the process of selecting the right costume in a programming context.

Noise Detection: Clapping Hands MOOC: The Thymio robot as a tool for discovering digital science

Demonstrates programming Thymio to change colors in response to noise detection.

Distance Sensors: Front MOOC: The Thymio robot as a tool for discovering digital science