Junior Teacher: Why Buy?

At lower juniors the Primary Roamer is ideal. It adds to previous knowledge providing a scaffold approach to learning and a couple of very simple control possibilities with one programmable output line and one programmable input line. Add the car disguise or make your own model and your pupils have a simple but effective introduction to control.

At top juniors the Junior Roamer comes complete with a control pod so more complex programming can be done using the simple outputs and inputs now available to you. The Control Pod is available as a stand-alone device that, since it is battery powered can be used anywhere in the school.

Once students are starting to program more complex procedures RoamerWorld is a must for editing and storing programs. The software suite is also useful for its many other features from creating different user- keys to accessing all the free activities that are available.

For teachers getting to know the new Roamer and all its new possibilities the curriculum CDs for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 are a must, covering a wide range of curriculum based activities, providing Teachers Notes, worksheets, downloadable Behaviours and keypad graphics. There is also an ever-increasing range of Activity Packs and Mats suitable for this age-group. Also check out the disguise kits like the car, which provide great models for control.

What to Buy

Robots

• Junior Roamer
• Standard Behaviour CD: The Standard Roamers are aimed at general areas by age. However, there is overlap and you will find it useful to have the Behaviour for the Standard Roamer and below the age group you deal with. This CD contains the keypad graphics and Behaviour of the Early Years, Infant, Primary and. Junior Roamers. Using the computer interface you can download the Behaviour of your choice and print out the keypad graphic.

General Accessories

• High Capacity Rechargable Batteries: This is a 6 pack rechargeable batteries required for a Roamer. These top quality high capacity batteries and although you might be able to buy them cheaper you will find these a better for a number of reasons. First in normal everyday usage you will only need to recharge them approximately once per week. Secondly there is a limit to the number of times you can recharge batteries. The number of recharge cycles for these batteries is very high. You can leave these batteries discharged for long periods of time without detriment.
• Fast Battery Charger: This will recharge up to eight batteries at once. Even a 30 minute charge can keep your Roamer going for a lesson. So no more problems with dead batteries!
• Computer Interface: This interface is needed when downloading from the computer to the keypad and vice versa. So it is essential when using the behaviour CD and necessary for RoamerWorld.

Activity Accessories

• Number Line Mat: This Number Line Mat provides numbers 0 to 10 on one side and 0 to -10 on the reverse. Buy two and you can go from -10 to 10. A single number line is 2m long and 20 cm wide.
• Multi-Activity Mat: This is a smaller version of the popular multi-activity mat developed for Classic Roamer. By providing a host of images, numbers, colours, shapes you can develop a multitude of activities. It comes with Teacher's Notes and activities.
• Clear Grid 5x5 Mat: This is a clear 5 x 5 grid mat (1.2m x 1.2m). Use it to create your own mats. Place over a map for easy navigation or create your own Roamer environment using pictures or the children's' drawings. You can combine the mats to make larger areas. When you put two together they form a 5 x 11 grid. Put 4 together and you will get a 11 x 11 grid. Note some activities will contain drawings that you can download for the children to colour in.
• Clear Grid 3x10 Mat: This line is 3 squares wide and 10 squares long. So you can create a street scene with chidren drawing the houses and shops that line the road. Buy several to create a town. Or run 3 Roamers at once in a race to pick a bouquet of flowers (put different flower pictures below each square). The possibilities are endless...
• Instruction Cards: This is a set of cards with Roamer instructions printed on them. They are very useful in a lot of Roamer games and activities.
• Pen Pack: You program Roamer to lift or lower the pen. The Pen Pack is great for areas of Maths and Geometry as well as drawing routes and more creative artistic endeavours. The Pack contains the pen mechanism that just plugs into the base, pen holder and 5 pens. You can replace the pens with any of the Berol range – including Colour Sticks.
• Transfers: Transfers are 5 Sheets of shapes that you can cut out and put on to Roamer as a quick way of creating characters. They don't use glue and you can take them off, rearrange them or reuse them.
• Disguise Kits: Disguise Kits is a package consisting of patterns that allow you to cut out and make fabric covers and other parts like ears and noses for Roamer. They let you transform your robot into a dog, or a cat, a pig or a cow… …a whole range of cuddly characters. You can make various bits yourself and then let students put them together in different ways. Alternatively some of the parts are easy enough for the children to make.
• Year 1 and Year 2 Curriculum Resource CDs

RoamerWorld

• Basic RoamerWorld Suite Software: Basic RoamerWorld RoamerWorld is a suite that consists of several different modules. Basic RoamerWorld is the core software which all the other modules "plug into". With this software you can: ► Use any of the Standard or Classic Roamer to write programs on the screen ► Watch these Roamers run on the screen ► Send these programs to the appropriate Roamer ► Save programs written on Roamer on the computer ► Edit Roamer programs on the computer ► Personalise Roamer ● Name it ● Customise Roamer's verbal feedback ● Calibrate Roamer accuracy ● Change the default for parameters like speed, units of move and turn volume, etc. ► Create User Key Functionality ► Access open source activities and manage behaviour changes ► Launch Logo programs and their interfaces In addition to these features the software comes with a range of Roamer Activities. ► Speech Centre Module The speech centre allows you to create and edit dialogue used by the Roamer. You can do this by recording speech, or using the text to speech facility. Also included in the price is a software licence to increase the speech capacity of 5 Roamers without needing to increase the robots memory. The price provides you with a licence of one of the Roamer voices. You can buy a licence to increase the speech capability of more than 5 Roamers and purchase other voices for Roamer. Prices on application. ► Activity Generator The Activity creator contains the tools needed to create your own keypad behaviours and modules.

Contact us now

If you're stuck and need advice just contact us:
Tel: 020 8673 2233
Email: info@valiant-technology.com