Hands-on Activity
Human robot challenge
One participant follows instructions with absolute literalism. Everyone learns precision immediately.
Setup
Clear a space. Place a simple objective in it — a cup to be picked up, a path to be walked. One volunteer becomes the robot and follows every instruction exactly as given, with no interpretation and no helpful inference.
Running the activity
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Brief the robot
The volunteer must execute instructions literally. "Walk forward" continues until told to stop. Do not fill gaps.
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Program
The group calls out instructions one at a time to reach the objective.
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Fail and debug
The robot walks into a wall. The group diagnoses which instruction was wrong and why.
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Increase difficulty
Second round: the group must write the full instruction sequence in advance, with no corrections once execution begins.
Debrief questions
- Which instruction seemed obvious to you and was not to the robot?
- What changed when corrections were no longer allowed?
- How did the group organize itself to agree on instructions?