Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today about recycled robots, exploring, drawing, and sculpture.

We're going to be doing lots of thinking, talking, and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to research and create a mood board showing different robots and their features.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are robot, mood board.

I'm going to say those again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Robot.

Mood board.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.

Let's take a look at their definitions.

So a robot is a machine capable of carrying out complex actions automatically.

A mood board is a visual tool that gathers images, materials, and ideas for inspiration.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that'll be working through together in today's lesson: discovering robots in our world, and creating a robot mood board.

In the first learning cycle, we're going to explore robots that are in our world.

Let's take a look at this image here.

How do you think robots could be used in art? And what kinds of robots can you imagine creating? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner about these two questions and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Could the robots create the art? Could they help with different techniques? What kind would you create? Would it be big or small? What functions would it have? Well, a robot is a machine capable of carrying out complex actions automatically.

Robots can be used for many reasons, including building things, helping with chores, exploring space, entertaining us in film and games.

Taking a look at this image of this robot here, what do you think this robot might be used for? Do you think it's any of these things? Maybe exploring space.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Robots are only found in films and stories, not in real life.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and then press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that's false, you're absolutely right.

Robots exist in real life too.

They help perform surgeries in hospitals, to build structures in factories, and even explore space.

Robots can appear in various forms and may be different in shape.

They might be round or angular or elongated.

They might be different in colour.

Maybe they are bright colours or black and white or symbolic colours.

And they also might be different in pattern, maybe a geometric pattern or an organic or abstract pattern.

Here are some robots from around the world.

We've got one here from Japan, one from America, and one from South Africa.

Take a good look at those images there.

What do you think each of these robots is used for? Pause the video and have a discussion with your partner and then press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Do you think they were to help with chores or to help build something? Well, let's take a look.

In Western countries, robots are widely used in industry, healthcare and everyday life.

In countries like the USA and Germany, robots help make cars.

Robots like vacuum cleaners are popular in homes for automatic cleaning.

And NASA uses robots like the Perseverance Rover to explore Mars, sending back valuable information about the planet.

We've seen that image there.

That's one of those robot vacuum cleaners that goes round, hoovering your home on its own.

Japan is known for its advanced use of robots in everyday life.

Robots are used in hospitals to assist with tasks like carrying medical supplies and even performing surgeries.

They're also used for manufacturing products, particularly in the automotive industry where robots help build cars.

And also they're used in research, particularly for exploring dangerous or difficult environments.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which of the following statements about robots is not true? Robots exist in many different countries.

All robots look like humans.

Robots are unique to different cultures.

Pause the video here and give yourself time to think about which of these statements is not true and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that all robots look like humans, you're right, that's not true.

Robots come in many shapes and sizes.

Some look like humans, but others are machines.

Some examples are robotic arms in factories or vacuum robots or space rovers.

What features in a robot design might show its purpose and use? What do you think? Pause video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, Izzy says, "The features of a robot show its purpose because each part helps it do its job.

A robot with wheels might be for moving fast and a robot with strong arms might be for lifting things." And Laura says, "Colours, patterns and symbols might be used to represent the robot's job, such as safety symbols on a robot in a factory." Did you think any of these ideas? Or maybe you thought of other ways that the features could show a robot's purpose? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which of the following helps us to understand what a robot is used for? The number of buttons the robot has, the country the robot comes from, or the robot's features and parts? Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to think about which of these helps us to understand what a robot is used for and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said the robot's features and parts, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to collect at least five images of robots that inspire you, and consider how each image could influence your own robot design.

Save or print these images for your mood board.

Some top tips for this task.

You could make sure that you find a variety of different images.

Look for different types of robots, including real life and fictional ones.

Try focusing on the features.

Notice the shapes, the textures, the joints, and materials used in their design.

Think about purpose.

Collect images of robots made for different jobs.

For example, rescuing or space or household robots.

Use different sources, so find pictures in books, magazines, or online to get a mix of styles, and think about including colours and textures.

Collect images that show interesting surfaces like metal, wires, or lights.

So hopefully these top tips will help you to collect those five images of robots that inspire you and that could influence your own robot design.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to collect those images of robots that inspire you and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? Well, you may have chosen a range of robots with different shapes, features, and purposes.

Maybe you've thought about what you like in each design and how these ideas could help you to create your own unique robot.

Well done for having a go at that learning task and collecting those images for inspiration.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to create a robot mood board.

A mood board is a visual tool that gathers images, materials, and ideas for inspiration.

They often include inspiring images, colours and patterns, annotations and notes.

You can see in this image here, someone is starting their mood board.

How might a mood board help artists and designers to develop their ideas? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner about this question and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Could it help artists and designers to think about some of the different versions that they could create? Maybe it could help them narrow down some of their ideas.

You might fill a mood board with colours, with images of robots, with symbols, descriptions and annotations, material swatches, and shapes and patterns to collect for your robot mood board.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Why might an artist collect pictures of robots for a mood board? To copy a robot exactly, to find inspiration for their own robot design, or to see how big robots are in real life? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about this question and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said to find inspiration for their own robot design, you're absolutely right.

A mood board helps you gather ideas and inspiration for your own robot design.

Mood boards can be created by using digital software, a sheet of paper, or a sketchbook.

You can try to capture what inspires you through images and words, and this will be useful to refer back to later on in the project.

When searching for inspiring images, you could also look at different artists and craftspeople who make robots.

Examples of robot-makers include Nam June Paik, Heinz Schulz-Neudamm, and Jean Michel Basquiat.

After choosing your pictures, write a few notes about why you selected them.

Think about the shapes, colours, and features and how they can help you design your own robot.

Laura says, "I like this robot because it looks friendly and animal-like.

The googly eyes, dark wheels, and rusty colours look great.

I would like to use features like this in my own robot design but would make the colours more fun and bright." Let's take a moment to pause here.

What should you consider when selecting robot images for a mood board? The materials used in the design, the colours only, colours, shapes, and symbols? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said the materials used in the design, and the colours, shapes, and symbols, you're absolutely right.

That's what you should consider when selecting robot images for a mood board.

This brings us to our final learning task.

Using the images you collected, I'd like you to create a mood board by arranging them on a piece of paper or a digital platform.

To personalise your mood board, you could also add your own sketches, colour swatches, material swatches, and design ideas.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at this first part of our last learning task and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Well, let's take a look at the second part of this learning task.

I'd now like you to annotate your chosen images and ideas, so you might choose to write why you find the images inspiring and why you chose certain features and the materials you used.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at annotating your chosen images and ideas and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Well, you might have done something like this.

Maybe you've used overlapping images to make it look a bit more interesting and annotated your mood board, identifying key features that you find inspiring.

Maybe you've used swatches of colour, or found objects to show the materials.

So can you see here on this example how the images are all overlapping and they've drawn some of the googly eyes and annotated the boxy structure and shown some rusty colour swatches there? Well done for having a go at creating your own robot mood board.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about the research of robots in art.

A robot is a machine capable of carrying out complex actions automatically.

Robots have different uses in different places around the world.

And we know how to select and arrange images, colours, and materials to create an inspiring mood board.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.