You're about to drive a real robot.
Kia ora. Before next class, sort a couple of things on your laptop so we can spend the whole lesson actually driving the mBot2 — not stuck installing stuff.
Here's what we'll get done in class
Plug it in
Connect a real mBot2 to your laptop with a USB-C cable. You'll see the robot's screen light up.
Drag some blocks
Snap together a few coloured code blocks. No typing — it's like LEGO for programming.
Make it move
Send your code to the robot and watch it drive, turn, and spin. Then break it. Then fix it.
A motor turns electricity into movement. By the end of next class you'll be the one telling that movement what to do — speed, direction, distance, all of it.
Get mBlock running on your laptop
Download mBlock (the easy way)
Open this link, pick your operating system (Windows or Mac), and install it like any other app.
No laptop access at home? Use Option B below instead → it works in any web browser.
Open mBlock and add the robot
Launch mBlock. On the left side, click Devices → + add → choose mBot2 (CyberPi). Now you'll see the right set of blocks.
You don't need a real robot for this — we're just getting the software ready.
Find these three blocks
Have a look around the block palette and suss out where these are. You don't need to do anything with them yet — just know they exist:
moves forward ▾ at 50 RPM
turns left ▾ 90° until done
wait 1 seconds
If you can't find them, no stress — we'll go through it together in class.
Charge your laptop. Seriously.
Bring it to class with at least 80% battery. A dead laptop = no robot = boring lesson.
If you can't install software (school laptop, restricted account, etc.), use the web version:
Works in Chrome. Just bookmark it.
You're sorted. Let us know.
Quick 30-second check-in so we know who's ready for next class. It also lets you tell us what move you want the robot to do first.
I'm Ready — Check Me In →