Fun to enhance robotics threads with science fiction, to give it more texture. My Martian Math class last summer focused on Python, but also the Mars probes (watched some Youtubes [1]), sometimes called robots, though remotely piloted, not autonomous (the case with many robots, including bomb removal and undersea oil work). The robots in War of the Worlds ("tripods") were actually piloted as well, and were defended against only ineffectually by humans (Tom Cruise included), eventually succumbed to the "immune system" of Gaia herself. The alien pilots had no immunity to Earthian germs (why should they?).[2] Having an object oriented language at one's elbow is really handy, as then it becomes easier to think in terms of attributes and behaviors (methods) as discrete, well- defined Python modules. Although hardware is wonderful when you can afford it, a "sensor" in software might still be modeled. My Tractor class has a Sensor subclass that "reads" the 8 cells in its neighborhood (N NW W SW S SE E NE). This would be ASCII bytes in a 2d array (a Farm object). A Tractor is nothing more than a simplified Turtle, exploring a new space of metaphors (there's also a fuel burning aspect -- Tractors run out of gas, much as robots may run out of battery power unless recharged).[3][4] Kirby [1] http://www.4dsolutions.net/satacad/martianmath/mm22.html [2] http://www.4dsolutions.net/satacad/martianmath/mm30.html [3] http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/python/OST/lifegame.py [4] http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/python/OST/farmworld.py