Problem Solving - CargoBot, TinkerBox HD, and Bubble Ball

Cargo-Bot in action.

 I explored TinkerBox, Cargo-Bot, and Bubble Ball.  I had varying degrees of success. Some were fun, others frustrating.

TinkerBox asks you to put gears and levers and such in position to get a ball into a container. I got through the tutorial and quit. It was frustrating. I had trouble getting the pieces oriented and couldn't find the pattern.

Cargo-Bot was a bit of a challenge, but fun. You have to program the claw to pick up boxes, move them, and set them down.  The recursive feature took some experimenting, but I got it to work.

Bubble Ball was the easiest.  You place objects like planks and a triangular-shaped fulcrum to guide a ball to the finish line.  I found out it was created by a young man who is 14. That made it more impressive.

I would recommend Cargo-Bot. It is the most like programming.  You have to plan ahead. I ask my students to do that when they write. You can experiment. I ask my students to do that when they brainstorm to write. It looks like there is more than one way to solve the problem, too.  That gives you a better chance of doing so.

Cargo-Bot completed task.

Bubble Ball completed task.