Teaching a Robot to Dance

Let's make a robot dance

Can a robot dance? Yes! But only if we teach it. A robot does not just know how. We tell it every move.

Let's learn how. It is a bit like being a dance teacher!

A dance is a list of moves

Think about a little dance. It might be:

1. Lift your left arm up.
2. Lift your right arm up.
3. Spin around once.
4. Clap your hands.

That is a list of steps. A robot can dance if we give it a list like this. We tell it move 1, then move 2, then move 3.

A list of steps in order is called an algorithm. You can learn more in What Is an Algorithm?.

Say each move clearly

A robot is not clever like you. You can guess what "wiggle a bit" means. A robot cannot guess.

So we must say each move very clearly:

• Not "move your arm". Say "lift your left arm up high".
• Not "turn". Say "spin all the way around once".

If we are fuzzy, the robot gets it wrong. Clear steps make a happy dance!

The order matters

The order of the steps matters a lot. What if we said spin before lift your arm? The dance would look funny and mixed up!

So we put the steps in the right order, one after the other. First this, then that.

Robots love to repeat

Here is something nice. A robot can do the same move again and again, exactly the same way. It never gets dizzy or tired.

We can even say: "Do the clap four times." The robot claps four times, just right. Doing something over and over is called a loop.

Fixing the dance

What if the dance looks wrong? We do not blame the robot! The robot only did what we said.

Instead, we check our steps. Maybe a move was in the wrong place. We fix the list and try again. Fixing mistakes in steps is a big part of coding.

A robot dances by following orders. It cannot feel the music, but it can move just how we plan. To meet more clever machines, see Meet Artificial Intelligence. And to write your own steps, try Coding!