FISCHERTECHNIK: Chemotronics, Ionistors, Electrochemical Supercapacitors Inside the Children's Designer for Programmers

In childhood, I did not part with the designers. I had 2 types of them: an analogue of LEGO (plastic and with pimples) and metal with bolts. After fasting on Habré , I realized how meager the choice was at that time. A couple of weeks ago, Member Hackspace Kostya Kostiuk told me that there are people in Moscow who promote and train FISCHERTECHNIK .


(on the photo: Electric vehicle with a gas station and a hydrogen fuel cell, solar battery)

In Germany, around this designer has developed its own community, they are proud of their inventor and set their own records.

What I liked this designer - hardcore scientific and technical seriousness and references to a variety of real mechanisms / devices (from the printer, CD-drive and mechanisms of Leonardo da Vinci, to stepper excavators, robots and electric vehicles). The sets also include a controller with a graphical programming environment that allows children to learn the basics of algorithms and programming.
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Under the cut a little about the car on a hydrogen fuel cell (from the designer "Ecological
energy ” + “ Fuel Element ” ), about the inventor of the designer and a short review of the construction kits existing in Moscow (one can only envy those geeks who are now 8+ years old, because such gifts await them for the new year).


(Caution! Pain under the cut for aimlessly lived years)

Hydrogen fuel cell

A fuel cell (electrochemical generator) is a device that converts chemical energy of a fuel (hydrogen) into electrical energy during an electrochemical reaction directly, unlike traditional technologies that use solid, liquid and gaseous fuel. Direct electrochemical conversion of fuel is very efficient and attractive from the point of view of ecology, since the process produces minimal amounts of pollutants, and there are no strong noises and vibrations.

The existing fuel cells have an efficiency of 60-80% , which is due to the direct conversion of the energy of the fuel into electricity (bypassing combustion).

While searching for information, I learned a lot of new words.
ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionistor
ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrochemical supercapacitors
ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himotronics



Video demonstrating the operation of a hydrogen fuel cell on the table (1.2 V; 440 mA)


Proton membrane, electrolysis of water, solar battery and all this in one set of the children's designer. I don’t know what will surprise me the next time, except maybe just an atomic battery in a children's designer or graphene spare parts for a pocket-sized children's 3d printer with memristors on magnetrix.

Inventor

Artur Fischer - the inventor of the flashlight and plastic dowel (the first dowel consisted of hemp twine and glue from animal blood, I used wooden chopiks)


Arrut Fisher - author of 1080 patents, slightly lags behind Edison, who pressed patented 1093 inventions




A little later, Arthur invented the dowel for the treatment of bone fractures, as well as a children's biodegradable designer from potato starch .

Level "Robotics and programming training"

Most likely, the designers of FISCHERTECHNIK were the first on the market, which included electronic modules for computer control of models. The first such set called “COMPUTING EXPERIMENTAL” went on sale in 1983 and involved connecting toy robots to Atari, Commodore and BBCmicro computers.


Robo-turtle from the COMPUTING EXPERIMENTAL 1983 set



Currently, as part of the FISCHERTECHNIK "Robotics" series of designers, there is a toy programmable controller, ROBOTICS TXT, with quite adult characteristics:


The controller is used to control the models of mechanisms, machines and robots that you collect from the designer. In order for the system you assembled to come to life it is necessary to develop a control program and load it into the controller. For this, you can use the ROBO Pro learning environment.

In ROBO Pro, programs are created in the form of classical flowcharts, which are graphical display (or a diagram), showing the sequence of basic steps of the algorithm.
Adult uncles use flowcharts to plan the development of a program and properly streamline its steps. Here is the flowchart for controlling the traffic light:


Block diagram in ROBO Pro

Each figure on this block diagram represents a separate stage of actions: ovals with green and red men correspond to the beginning and end of the chain of actions. The arrows show the sequence of actions.

Usually, after the flowchart is developed, we actually have a plan for drawing up a program in an algorithmic programming language. In addition, each block turns into one or several of its operators. In ROBO Pro, the process of turning a circuit into a program code occurs automatically after clicking on the “Run a program” button. Thus, we can debug the algorithm on real hardware without manual coding of the program.

Drawing flowcharts is very useful at first when studying programming, as it allows you to develop the habit of making a logical and, moreover, complete plan of the program being created.

The shapes used in the ROBO Pro for the image of program elements, to some extent repeat the elements listed in GOST 19.701-90 .

The advantage over LEGO is that LEGO has its own “closed” programming language that is used only in Lego. In FISCHERTECHNIK, the language is based on the same principles as “adult” programming languages. Children get acquainted with the generally accepted form of writing algorithms and block diagrams.

Wi-Fi control:



ROBOTICS TXT Discoverer Kit / Training Lab. Workbook in Russian PDF


Robot soccer player


Scouting Robot and Pathfinder Robot


PTZ Camera and Videographer


Hand dryer with line crossing sensor and traffic light


ROBO TX Researcher: a tunnel robot, a flowers detector, a pathfinder, a lifeguard, and so on.
Workbook in Russian PDF


ROBO TX Electropneumatics: pinball, robot color grader, ball track with grip and vacuum manipulator
Workbook in Russian PDF


Realistic fully functional industrial robots: warehouse robot, three-axis manipulator and robot with gripper

Theory from the workbook:


Workbook in Russian PDF

Profi level

Set "Ecological Energy"

Ecological energy: wind power installation, tracking the sun, electric car, hydrogen fuel cell


Theory from the workbook:


Workbook in Russian PDF

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Set "Technical Revolution"

11 interesting models that repeat various outstanding inventions of the 17-19 centuries.


Technical revolutions: “perpetual motion”, helicopter, electric motor and electric generator, windshield wiper for cars (they used to wipe hands before), centrifugal regulator (the first device is cybernetic), Morse telegraph, etc.

Example description from workbook:


Workbook in Russian PDF

Set "Cars of Leonardo Da Vinci"

From the designer you can assemble the mechanisms that Leonardo da Vinci invented: blacksmith tongs, catapult, mechanical drum, grapple, ratchet mechanism, wings, sliding bridge, and a machine for notching files:


Sliding Bridge and War Chariot

Theory from the workbook:


Workbook in Russian PDF

Set "Dynamics" / "Dynamics XL"

With this set, you can explore such physical phenomena as inertia, acceleration, energy conservation, momentum, and other topics.



Theory from the workbook:


Workbook in Russian PDF

Set "Electronics" / "Electrical Engineering"

Set for experiments with electronic and automatic devices. With the help of this designer, engineers will be able to get acquainted with the basics of electronics and learn: simple electrical circuits, parallel and serial connection of elements, circuits with transistors, capacitors, resistors and LEDs.


Touch switch carousel and sliding door

Theory from the workbook

Workbook in Russian PDF

Conclusion

If you have a younger boom who can deal with the constructor independently or with your help, take the boxed version. There are many manuals and videos in Russian. In the next post I will share where and how in Moscow there are training courses for young people, as well as recommendations on how to organize a circle independently.

PS