Lesson video

Hi there everyone! My name is Mr. Booth.

And welcome to your design and technology lesson for today.

Thank you so much for joining me.

In today's lesson, we are going to be modeling and assembling complex shapes in Tinkercad.

I'm gonna show you all those tools you need to be able to design those more complicated shapes.

This lesson is part of our prototypes with mechanisms where we are looking at robotics and automation.

So let's get going.

Today's outcome, I want you to be able to model and assemble complex shapes in Tinkercad.

It's as simple as that.

Here are keywords for today.

The first one is group, join two or more shapes together to make one shape.

We certainly need to be able to do that if we're gonna make more complex shapes.

We also have sketch.

This is a drawing made up of straight or curved lines that we use in Tinkercad.

We have robot 'cause of course we're looking at robots, a machine that can sense, think and do tasks with some degree of autonomy.

And then finally we have duplicate, make a copy of a shape and repeat its movement.

And I'm gonna show you how to use these tools in Tinkercad today.

We have three learning cycles.

The first one is all about building complex shapes.

So let's get going.

Designing in Tinkercad is all about building shapes upon shapes.

You take a shape from the basic shapes library, you bring it into your work plane and then what you do is you bring another shape in to make it more complicated.

By combining and grouping multiple shapes, you can form more complex shapes.

So first of all, we need to know where that group function is, that tool to bring the shapes together.

And you can see it's right there.

Now, you need more than one shape on your work plan to be able to use this.

And if you select both of them and click on your group tool, it will make them into one shape.

Now of course, we all make mistakes and designing a Tinkercad is part of that.

We are going to make mistakes and that's absolutely fine.

So if you want to ungroup some shapes, 'cause you might want to modify one of those shapes, then you just simply select the shape again, which will be one, click on ungroup and it will make it back into its two separate shapes.

And there's your group tool and ungroup tool.

So let's look how we would combine, how we group those shapes.

Well first of all, we need more than one shape, so we've got two shapes.

So we've got these from the shapes library, our sphere and our box.

We then position them as needed.

So what we're gonna do here is just put the sphere inside the box and then we select both of them and press the group tool.

And as you can see, they then become one shape.

Now if you wanna change the color of those, you can of course, and you do that in the dialogue box that will of course appear on your screen.

So quick check for understanding.

What does the group button do? Is it A, changes all the shapes to the same size? Is it B, combines the shapes into one new shape or is it C, helps all shapes line up together? Pause the video now have a go at this and come back to me when you're done.

Well the group tool of course combines the shapes into a new shape.

Fantastic.

Now to copy a shape in Tinkercad, we need obviously to draw and select the shape and then we can use the copy button in the top left hand corner and then we can click paste.

So let's have a look at that.

So I've got this lovely star on my work plane, I've highlighted it and then I'm gonna click the copy tool.

If I then click the paste tool, which is right next door to that, I get an exact copy of that shape, nice and easy.

We also have another tool called Duplicate.

Now we can use duplicate just like a copy tool if we wanted to.

So again, we need to draw a shape or bring a shape from the shapes library.

And then what we're gonna do is highlight that shape and press duplicate.

Or what we could do is we could do control + D on the keyboard if you want to learn a shortcut.

And then a nice little tool in duplicate is repeat function.

And what we can do is we can adjust the position or rotation.

If we then press duplicate again, it will repeat all the actions we've just done.

So let me show you what I mean.

So here I have a shape, it's a nice heart shape on my work plane.

I select the shape, I then click duplicate, it will create a copy of that shape.

And as long as I don't click off that copy of that shape, keep it highlighted, I can then move it.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna move it down and left as you can see, and I've rotated it 22.

5 degrees.

Now as long as I haven't clicked off that shape, if I now click duplicate again what it'll do is it will repeat all those actions that I've just done, the copying and also the moving.

Amazingly, if I then click duplicate again, it will repeat it again and you can make some really nice patterns and also some designs by using this.

And what duplicate does is it remembers the last move and then mimics it.

So it duplicates it and then mimics whatever you did and it copies and then repeats the movements of your shape.

Really useful tool if you want to make more complex designs.

The other thing we need to do is align shapes.

And this is really important.

We want to be able to get shapes aligned perfectly together.

So our designs look fantastic and they are symmetrical also just 'cause they line up.

So to align shapes in Tinkercad, we need again at least more than one shape.

We need two shapes minimum on our work plane.

And then we can select them all by doing control+A or you can just highlight each one of them individually.

Or another way of highlighting them is to click on them, hold down, shift on the keyboard and then click another one.

Once you've highlighted those, we're then gonna press the little tiny align tool, you can see it in the top right and corner there.

What happens then is we get these nodes appear around the edge of our design.

Now, I've chosen to look down from the top view onto these designs and then what you can do is hover over each of those nodes and it gives you a little preview of where all your shapes are going to go.

Now I can see my right hand middle node is the one that I want 'cause I want them all aligned up across the center horizontally.

So I click on that and what happens is they all align perfectly.

And that's really useful and a really easy way to get shapes looking all aligned.

Let's create holes in Tinkercad.

What you might want to do is change a solid into a hole.

So what we need once again is more than one shape.

We've gotta have two shapes.

And what you're gonna do is you're gonna take one shape away from the other.

So what we do is we recreate our shapes, we then create the shapes that we want to be taken away as holes and then again we just group them.

Once you group them, it takes away the holes from the solid and you are then left with the solid and you can see the hole tool is there.

That's what you need to click on to make sure it turns those shapes from a solid into a hole so you can take them away.

The other thing we can do in Tinkercad when we have a basic shape on our work plane is we can modify that shape using what's called the dialogue box.

That's the dialogue box there.

So whatever shape you bring in, if you click on the shape, highlight that shape, you will get that shape's dialogue box and they're all slightly different.

So it's worth having a look at these.

Now for this polygon you can see we can change the color, we can change it from a solid to a hole.

We can change the number of sides the shape has, but we can also put a bevel on it that puts an edge on it.

And by changing the amount of segments within that bevel, we can actually turn it from a straight bevel into actually a nice fillet, almost like a round.

So that's another nice way of making your designs look even more professional.

So task A, here we go.

We're gonna create a robot using basic shapes within your design.

I would like you to pick at least four options from this grid below to make sure you are using lots of different shapes in your design.

Your robot must include at least two parts made by combining two or more shapes using the methods that we've just learned about in this learning cycle.

Have lots of fun doing this task.

Come back to me when you've completed it.

Pause the video now.

So, how did you get on? I'm sure you did absolutely fantastic.

Your robot might look something like this and you can see from this we use the grid, we use two cones, four holes, three spheres, and one cylinder.

And we've got lots of shapes that have been combined and grouped.

Well done! The next learning cycle is all about sketching in Tinkercad and there are two main ways of doing this.

So let's go at have a look.

So the first way is using the scribble tool and that can create custom shapes.

The scribble tool looks like a little scribble, believe it or not.

So you select the scribble tool and then drag it onto the work plane.

What you then do is you open up into almost a drawing view form.

This allows you to draw freely on the work plane using your mouse and you can see you can't be that accurate.

So that's why it's called scribble.

Now there is a rubber tool for you to remove parts of your design if you wish.

You can also use the draw shape tool to draw an array shapes in scribble mode.

It's quite useful for drawing large bodies.

When you're happy with your design, click done in the bottom right and corner.

Really easy to miss that.

To make any changes, there's a little edit button which you can select in the dialogue box when you select your scribble shape.

Sketching in Tinkercad is a more accurate way of drawing.

Really useful to be able to do this.

Now you can see in our basic shapes menu there and you can see it's got a little new tag next to it.

Because at the time of recording, it was actually quite a new feature in Tinkercad.

So if you select the sketch tool and again drag that onto the work play, you can then use the tools to create a drawing and a quite accurate drawing at that as well.

By selecting the lines and clicking on the different tools at the bottom, this will allow you to do curved lines or straight lines and it gives you all sorts of different ways of doing that using the little nodes that you can see appearing around your lines.

Quick check for understanding.

You cannot draw a curved line when sketching in Tinkercad.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video now, have a go at this and come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is of course false.

Of course, you can draw curved lines and why? Well it's false yet because in a sketch mode you can draw straight or curved lines using the different menus.

Well done.

Now just like when you are designing 3D shapes, if you click on your lines, you can of course change the sides using the dimensions.

Now what you can do is you can click in those boxes and put in whatever dimensions you want, meaning, you can be very accurate.

One of the advantages of computer aid design.

And of course when you finished, make sure you click on the blue finish sketch icon and then of course you'll see your design appear.

And just like with the scribble tool, if you select your shape, there is an edit button if you want to go back in and make any edits to that at a later date.

Now onto your second task, I would like you to create a new 3D design in Tinkercad.

I then want you to model a really simple robot head.

What I then want you to do is use the sketch tool to create a mouth on the robot's face.

So remember to design your really simple robot head and then drag the sketch tool onto the face of the robot and then make a nice face, a nice mouth for it.

Pause the video now.

Have a go at this.

Come back to me when you've completed.

How did you get on? I'm sure you've done absolutely fantastic and I'm sure your robot head looks far better than mine and you sketch that brilliant mouth on the front of it.

Well done! So we're now onto our final learning cycle and we're gonna understand that robotics in this one.

So robots are machines that can do tasks sometimes by themselves and sometimes with a little help from people.

Robots are used in many ways and are becoming much more common in everyday life.

In fact, probably on a weekly basis, you might come into contact with some kind of robot doing a task.

Now, robots are machines that are able to sense, think so they can process and act with some degree of autonomy.

Some robots can interact with and adapt to their environment and they are becoming more and more advanced every time.

And you can see this robotic arm that has been used in manufacturing here is a very complex robot.

So let's just have a look a robot's characteristics so it can sense, it can process, so it can think, it can act.

And when it does act, it has some degree of autonomy.

So what I want you to do now is have a little think.

Is a washing machine a robot? I want you to have a chat with the person next to you or if you are on your own, maybe just make a few notes.

Pause the video now and come back to me when you have made your decision on whether or not a washing machine is a robot.

So how did he get on? Do you think a washing machine is a robot? Well let's see what Alex says.

The washing machine needs a person to tell it what to do and it can't make its own decisions.

So I don't think it's a robot.

But Jacob says, I think it is a robot because it knows when the door is open or closed and it won't start until it's closed.

What do I think? So a washing machine can sense, it knows when the water is full, it can process, it can be set to perform different washing cycles.

My washing machine seems to have about 450 different cycles for some reason.

Even though I only ever use one.

It can act, it spins and washes and rinses, but it doesn't have any autonomy, does it? It needs to be told what to do, such as when to start.

So I do not think that a washing machine is a robot.

It's just a machine.

Quite a clever machine though.

Next one is a robot vacuum, a robot.

Once again, I want you to pause it now, have a discussion, make some notes, come back to me when you've made your decision.

Well once again, let's look at what our Oak pupils say.

So the vacuum can sense its environment and autonomously avoid obstacles.

So I think it is a robot, says Alex.

Jacob says the vacuum can sometimes get lost and can't find its way back to the charging station.

So actually I don't think it is a robot.

What do I think? Let's look at it again.

The vacuum can sense.

It knows where it is in the room, it can process.

It decides when to vacuum, it can act, it vacuums and travels around the room.

And finally, it does have some autonomy.

It can navigate around obstacles.

Even if you put a new item of furniture in the middle of a room that wasn't there before, it will learn that it's there very quickly and navigate around it.

So, I think it's a robot.

So let's have a look at some types of robot.

So in industry we use them for manufacturing, welding, assembly, packaging, all sorts of different things.

In fact, a lot of the products that you use on a daily basis, probably at some point came into contact with some kind of industrial robot.

We use it in services assisting us with delivery and cleaning.

In medical, it's more and more common for robots to assist healthcare professionals when doing certain tasks like operations.

The military obviously use them for dangerous situations like explosive and clearing minds.

But also in combat you might have seen the extensive use of military combat drones being used.

They're used in agricultural environments as well.

A lot of our food is now picked by robots, believe it or not.

And finally we are using them more and more in our own homes.

We're using them for domestic purposes such as vacuum cleaning and lawn cutting.

So robots tend to take on jobs that are too dangerous, too boring or too hard for people to do.

This keeps humans safe while the work is still getting done.

Some examples of this, firefighting robots, going into buildings that would be too dangerous for humans to do to fight fires.

Bomb disposal robots, already talked about this a little bit, but people don't have to risk their lives.

And of course, underwater robots exploring our oceans where we simply can't go.

And here you have some examples.

We've got those medical robots assisting with operations.

We've got space exploration.

So this is of course, the curiosity rover who went to Mars.

And of course we've got deep sea exploration as well where these robots autonomously go to the depths that we simply can't get.

Your final task, I would like you to compare the two devices below and explain whether or not you think they are robots.

Use the robot characteristics to help you in your answer.

A robot's characteristics are sense, process, so to think, act and act with some autonomy.

And the two devices I would like to look at is a toaster and an autonomous lawnmower.

Pause the video now, have a go at this task, come back to me when you've completed.

So what did you think then? So did you think the toaster is a robot? Well, here's what I think.

So sense, although it might have a timer, it doesn't really sense anything.

There are some very advanced toasters out there, but the one in this picture, I doubt it's sensing anything.

Process, it doesn't make any decisions, it just uses a simple timer and then a simple built-in mechanism.

Act, it does push the toast up when it's done, but it's usually through a series of springs in that mechanism.

And finally, it can't choose what to do on its own.

It needs us to press down that lever to toast our bread.

So I don't think it's a robot.

Next, I was asking about the autonomous lawnmower.

Well, I think this is a robot.

It uses senses to detect the edges of the lawn so it doesn't fall off your lawn.

It can go around obstacles and it even can detect when it's raining.

It processes, it decides where to go, where to turn.

It moves around on its own so it can act.

It cuts the grass with its blades.

And also it does act with some degree of autonomy.

Once started, it can mow the lawn by itself without constant human control.

So yeah, I think that's a robot.

So that has brought us to the end of today's lesson.

You've been absolutely fantastic.

Let's have a quick summary.

You can use group, ungroup, align and duplicate tools to build complex shapes in Tinkercad.

The scribble and sketch tools are used to create and edit custom shapes.

Robots are machines that can do tasks, they can sense, think, and act with some autonomy.

And finally, robots are often used for repetitive, hard or dangerous jobs.

Well done today.

You've been absolutely brilliant.

I look forward to seeing you all next time.