Aim
The goal of the level is to present robots that move and behave like real life animals and that are able to make more complicated decisions.
Content
Level π is the third one in the course “Robotics with Lego”. During the lessons students construct animal like robots and try to figure out how to make them move. The students look for ways to complete a functional robot after they have been given certain parts of a construction.
Abstractions are brought in, like the instructions being grouped together in separate new blocks, and the use of variables. The robots become ‘smarter’. They develop their intelligence and keep their internal state, they base their next actions on their previous ones.
Naming
The number π is probably the best known and most fundamental number in mathematics (especially for people who don’t work with numbers constantly). There are a few movies named after it, it’s very often used in commercials and also in the names of schools that specialize in mathematics. Even one of the playful jokes about Chuck Norris is that he knows the last digit of π.
For many objects around your house: cups, clocks, plates, spherical Christmas decorations, the principle, that the ratio of the circumference and the diameter is always the same and equal to π, is true. It doesn’t matter how big the circle is. Come on, what are you waiting for? I know you want to take piece of thread and measure the circumference and diameter of the nearest cup, divide them and see if the answer really is 3.14…?
You can learn more about π at http://www.khanacademy.org/video/circles–radius–diameter-and-circumference?playlist=Geometry.