Welcome to Rocking Sprocket
We are a family who have been home educating for nearly a decade at the time of writing, and we have used robotics and engineering for years to experiment and learn about physics and the world around us. We learn together as a family and so now as our years of home educating grow less and less (due to children invariably growing older), our aim is to try, as a family, to support other people to learn about robotics and engineering in an accessible way.
Your age and education level shouldn’t stop you from learning topics you are truly interested in. This is usually the case, though. It’s very easy to look at a subject and get completely overwhelmed by the jargon and the supposed complexity of the subject itself. Further, many experts and educators often forget what it feels like to be a beginner at something, and overall how scary it can be. This makes it harder to get past the ever terrifying wall of “I just can’t do it”.
We aim to take away that wall with our videos and blogs. We want to help people realise their potential and understand that every single subject you come across in your lifetime, you can learn it. Doesn’t matter if you’re five or sixty-five. This fear can be all encompassing, and we understand that on a very deep level.
We aim to show you how parts do not have to be expensive, how you can actually find them in places you might not expect, and how to put them together in a way that they can be considered a robot. Why you don’t necessarily need a 3D printer and other automated tools (although they are certainly useful if you have them), and why you do not need to be a coding genius to start getting to grips with programming a microcontroller such as an Arduino/Raspberry Pi or Micro:bit. We want to show you how any material is a viable robotic chassis, including wood, and how to hack old toys or objects into new creations or use their parts for your designs.
This channel and our sister website, Bailey Robotics, were originally created with the intent to create fun, educational content that makes learning accessible for all, with this site being more focussed on engineering and science based projects, and Bailey Robotics being more robotics based.
The Reshuffle
We realised that splitting the subjects up like that wasn’t ideal, so the sister sites have been reorganised to make your learning even more accessible. Rocking Sprocket is now the place to learn it all! Science projects, engineering projects, robots, and advice will all be on this site. Bailey Robotics is now the place to find all the robots we create, what we do with them, and the events they take part in across the year. With our blog, and our open source code, it is also the place to potentially gain ideas for your next project!
If you have ever tried to learn something but felt it was impenetrable due to how complex it seems, then this is the website and channel for you. We want to tackle subjects in a way that helps to break things down and explain them in ways that are suitable for both children and adults alike.
We hope to fill this website with enough of what we have learnt and built, and to support you in discovering that Learning is for Everyone and that you too can get stuck right in.
This website may be aimed slightly more at children, however the information here is universal and suitable for anyone who wishes to have a go.
We hope to help fuel your curiosity!
Emma, Cerys, and Jacob
Rocking Sprocket