Emotional Robot with Microbit

"Robots will be our companions, not just our tools—when we teach them to understand how we feel."

-- Cynthia Breazeal

Introduction

Before starting the topic of Emotional Robot, students should be familiar with the basics of Microbit, including how to write and run simple Microbit programs. They should know how to use Microbit and write its code on a website named “MakeCode”. Emotional robot is a type of project which shows different emotions which are input there. There can be different emotions like Happy, sad, angry, shocked, sleepy, etc.

Prerequisite Knowledge

• Familiar with all the components of Microbit.
• Basic programming concepts like: Conditional, Loops.
• About different designs of emotions.

Learning Objectives

• After this project, students will be able to understand the logic behind this program on how to design different programs with the help of microbit which used LED lights to display different programs to make it more attractive.
• They will also learn the basics of block coding which will be very useful for them in the future.

Components Required

• BBC microbit (V1 or V2)
• Battery pack (optional)
• USB cable
• (Optional) Servo motor or piezo speaker
• Computer with MakeCode editor access

Project Description

This robot reacts to different inputs and displays corresponding emotional expressions:

- Button A pressed: Happy face and melody

- Button B pressed: Sad face

- Shake gesture: Surprised face

- Loud sound: Scared or shocked expression

The LED matrix displays various emotive faces based on interactions.

MakeCode Block Logic behind this project

The microbit is programmed using Microsoft MakeCode, a block-based programming tool. Below is the logic:

- Use `on button A pressed` to show a happy face.

- Use `on button B pressed` to show a sad face.

- Use `on shake` to show a surprised face.

- Use `on loud sound` to show a scared or alert face.

- Use `forever` to display a neutral face when idle.

Codes to make this project

Outcomes

• The robot successfully displays simple emotions (happy, sad, angry, surprised) through LED patterns on the Microbit screen.
• The robot can change its emotions based on sensor inputs like:

• Button presses
• Sound level
• Light intensity
• Proximity (if using an ultrasonic sensor)
• The robot reacts to loud noises or claps with specific emotional responses.
• Using Microbit’s accelerometer, the robot responds emotionally to gestures like shaking (angry) or tilting (confused).

Output