Pupils studying Automated Systems and Robotics as part of the Standard Grade Computing course were recently able to get their hands on some very clever (and very expensive!) robots from Edinburgh University’s School of Informatics.

Morna Findlay, lecturer at the university, brought along some mobile light-sensitive e-pucks, a £3000 state-of-the-art Sony AIBO robot dog and a robot capable of playing Connect 4 against a human opponent!

Pupil Ryan Brown took on the Connect 4 robot at its own game and actually won! Modest Ryan enjoyed the whole experience, commenting in a post-match interview “I was fascinated by the AIBO because it learned things just like a real dog. I also found out that robots aren’t very good at Connect 4!” Lecturer Morna however put Ryan’s impressive victory into context, explaining that the robot expert is capable of thinking ahead through a complex combination of thousands of possible moves.

All seven of our S4 Computing classes took part in the two day event and the pupils and the staff in the Perth High School Computing Department would like to thank both Morna and the University of Edinburgh for the visit.

Click on the link below to watch the AIBO in action:



Some pupil comments:

“I liked the videos of the experiments at the university, especially the break-dancing, head-spinning motion sensors. That helped me to understand the sensors better. I also thought that the Connect 4 robotic arm was good as it had a victory dance at the end when it won”. (Fiona Dale)

“I thought the robots session was great. It was really interesting to see how robots functioned” (Zac Minto)

“The AIBO dog was fantastic! It’s amazing what technology can do!” (Jilly Ashmole)

“It was really good to learn about how the AIBO moved and danced and it was also good to learn about how he charges himself up when the batteries run low” (Greg Forsyth)

“I thought that the talk was very interesting a being able to watch/use the technology was very fun. The AIBO in particular was fascinating and how it worked was very clever”. (Ewan Taylor)

"The presentation was intresting and I liked watching the robots performing"

"I enjoyed the robot dog, I thought it was really clever!"


AIBO searching for his bone.


Ryan Brown, taking on the robot 'expert'.


Connect 4 Champion Ryan Brown wearing his prize T-Shirt

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