Create a Face

This unplugged activity uses a large model of a face, operated by several children working together, to teach how ‘emotion’ can be expressed by robots following simple rules. These rules are expressed as IF, THEN, ELSE, statements which, when combined, show the complex movement of a whole face in reaction to various emotional stimuli. The resource includes teacher guidance and printable hand-outs for each child involved in the whole-class demonstration. A video is provided which shows an actual robot following the same rules as used in the activity – this can be used as a ‘hook’ at the lesson opening. The resource would be a useful part of early lessons on selection in programming, or when looking at robot behaviour.