Join hosts Brandon and Dan for another attempt at the Silicon Sonata level in RoboCo! In this episode Dan focuses on the seemingly impossible task of placing a cello gracefully into a stand. Along the way, the duo discusses the musical terminology of pizzicato (versus chicken piccata), Louis Zong's Rat Taxi album, and the profound educational concept of Lev Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). After a grueling battle with physics, Dan outfits his robot with a tiny oscillating piston (affectionately named the Jabronio) and a spinning red bow tie to snatch victory in the final seconds of the stream.

Episode Outline:

• [0:00 - 14:30] Stream intro, mixing up staccato and pizzicato with pasta sauce, and early struggles to grip the cello without knocking over the stand.
• [14:30 - 20:25] Game design philosophy: Discussing the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), an interview with Jim Gee, and how the frustration of learning is inherently fun.
• [20:25 - 34:00] Engineering the Jabronio small piston to oscillate the bow, alongside movie tangents about Road to Perdition and its manga inspiration, Lone Wolf and Cub.
• [34:00 - 52:54] Designing a two-hinge wrist to rotate the claw, adding a wildly spinning red bow tie for class, and struggling with the cello stand's collision physics.
• [52:54 - 57:50] The final clutch run: Placing the cello, playing it with the bow, and the stream wrap-up.

Links:

• Pizzicato Five
• Rat Taxi
• Lev Vygotsky & the Zone of Proximal Development
• Jim Gee’s interview with The Game-based Learning Review
• Lone Wolf and Cub / Road to Perdition
• Josh the Composer
• The Mars Cheese Castle‍