Worldwide, many people have been inspired by the fabulous works of Yoshihito Isogawa– myself included. I consider him a legend in the LEGO world of robotics. Yoshihito Isogawa lives in Tokyo, Japan. His biographies describe him as a LEGO master builder, a LEGO® luminary, and a technical writer. He gives LEGO workshops and lectures at schools and science museums.
Yoshihito Isogawa has also published ten books. His latest is “The LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor Idea Book.” This book has 125 models (interactive inventions, toys, cars, games, and more) built with the LEGO Robot Inventor set (#51515). This particular set is the retail/home set of SPIKE Prime. If you own a SPIKE Prime, you might pick up some great ideas from this book. Please remember the part selection for the Robot Inventor is quite different from the educational SPIKE Prime set.
One thing to note is Yoshihito’s willingness to build and share all kinds of robots and contraptions through his Facebook page and YouTube Channel. He always comes up with ingenious building techniques and clever creations. So one day, believe it or not, I was exploring the internet and stumbled upon a YouTube video called, Two Wheels Car: LEGO SPIKE Essential. Check it out!
I am sure once Yoshihito got a hold of a SPIKE Essential set, his creative juices started flowing. This little robot is easy to build and just plain CUTE!
As you probably guessed, I was inspired to see if I could build this cutie-pie robot. It was fairly easy to replicate this build after watching the video and pausing it at specific times to figure out part placement. I’m happy to report I was successful, and the only major change I made from the original was the name. In my honest opinion, the robot needed a name upgrade. TCEA’s Communications Specialist, Emily Hopkins, and I changed the name to “Jitter.” Here is the video of Jitter, and you can see how he got his name. If you want to build Jitter, check out my eight-step building directions.
I just couldn’t stop here. Next up was SPIKE Essential’s big brother, SPIKE Prime. Here are the directions for JoJo using a SPIKE Prime core set. It was pure joy to use the 5×5 light matrix for JoJo’s mouth and the biscuits (new technic building element included in the SPIKE Prime and SPIKE Essential sets) for sunglasses.
If you and your students build Jitter and his brother JoJo, please send me a photo or video. I would love to see your take on these two robots!
Interested in learning more about robotics? Register for TCEA’s Robotics Camp! Learn all you need to know about SPIKE Prime in just a few days. Build robots (and your confidence!), explore the possibilities, and gather up fun, adaptable lessons. Sign up today!
