Part 3: Connect
Yesterday your robot sensed the world on its own. Today your robots start talking to each other over radio, with no wires. That is the Internet of Things: machines that share what they know so a whole system can work as one. It is exactly how the harbor keeps hundreds of ships, cranes, and trucks from colliding.
How do machines work as one system when they cannot see or touch each other?
- Send and receive wireless radio messages between micro:bits
- Turn those messages into port status signals
- Join a harbor-wide synchronized broadcast
- Optional: add infrared eyes so your robot can see without touching
Right in San Pedro, the Marine Exchange of Southern California is the air traffic control for every ship entering the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. It has coordinated the harbor since 1923. Its team watches a sensor network of radars, cameras, and receivers, and talks to ships by radio around the clock so that thousands of vessels a year never collide.
Every big ship carries a transponder called AIS that broadcasts its name, position, course, and speed over radio. Every other ship and the control center receives it in real time. That is the Internet of Things on the water, and it is the same idea you are about to build with two micro:bits.
The person watching those screens and working the radio is a Marine Traffic Dispatcher. Behind them, IoT and systems technicians keep the radios, radars, and networks running.
- Los Angeles Harbor College, Wilmington, electronics and computer technology
- LA Trade-Tech, networking and information technology
- Coast Guard and local maritime programs for the vessel traffic path
Local anchor to know: the Marine Exchange of Southern California, San Pedro.
Inside a vessel traffic control center. From one room, operators track and coordinate every ship in the harbor using radar and radio. Our own Marine Exchange of Southern California does the same for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
- Power on and confirm your robot still runs. Swap in fresh AA batteries if the power light blinks.
- With your partner, name three things in your home that talk wirelessly. WiFi, Bluetooth, a garage remote, earbuds. All of them send invisible signals through the air, all day.
Team up with another pair. Your two micro:bits will send and receive messages through the air, the same way ships and the control center trade information over radio.
All code steps live in the Parallax cyber:bot MakeCode Tutorial Series. Today you use the Cybersecurity: Radio Basics tutorial inside it. This page sets the pace; the tutorial has the exact code.
Match your radio group. Two micro:bits can only hear each other if they are set to the same radio group number. Get your group number from the whiteboard and set both micro:bits to it.
- In the series, open Cybersecurity: Radio Basics and work through it with your partner team.
- Get one micro:bit sending and the other receiving on your shared group.
- Send a message and watch it appear on the other team's micro:bit. Swap roles so both teams send and receive.
A radio is only useful if the messages mean something. Now turn your messages into port status signals, then join the whole room in one broadcast.
- Change your messages into port statuses using icons: a checkmark for "ready for cargo," an X for "delay."
- Trade statuses with your partner team. Watch each other's micro:bit update in real time.
- Your facilitator will call out one shared radio group for the whole room. Set your micro:bit to it.
- The facilitator broadcasts one command from a master micro:bit. Every robot in the room receives it at the same instant and reacts together. That is a whole harbor moving as one system.
Film 15 to 30 seconds of the whole room reacting to one broadcast at once. Scan the code with your phone to open the workshop Padlet, then tap the plus button to post your clip.
Done early? Give your robot a way to see obstacles without touching them. Infrared works like the invisible beam in a TV remote: your robot shines it forward and watches for the reflection bouncing back off an object.
- In the series, open Infrared Light Navigation for the cyber:bot and build the IR circuits. Hand up for a wiring check before you power on.
- Test detection, then let your robot roam and avoid obstacles without ever touching them.
Your robots went from working alone to working as one connected system, sharing signals through the air. That is the Internet of Things, and it is how the whole harbor stays coordinated and safe in real time.
If two harbors put their robots on the same radio group by accident, what would go wrong? Talk it out.
Tomorrow your robot gets smart. You will train a small AI to recognize a motion, add it to your robot, then put everything together in a Port mission tournament. Bring your robot.
You made machines talk to each other over radio and act as one system. That is the core of every connected operation at the harbor. Here is how to turn it into a local job.
- Free local career centers help you at no cost. The Long Beach WorkPlace and Pacific Gateway serve Long Beach, Signal Hill, and the LA Harbor.
- Search CalJOBS, the state job board, plus the careers pages of the Port of LA, Port of Long Beach, and the terminals.
- Ask a teacher, counselor, or your TRIO advisor to connect you.
- Put this workshop on your resume. List real skills: wireless communication, running a shared network, and staying organized while a lot happens at once.
- Use a professional email with your name, and ask a teacher or Woven facilitator to be a reference.
- Apply even if you do not meet every preferred line. Entry level means they will train you.
- Get free help writing your resume at the local career centers listed below.
- Tell the story of a problem you fixed this week. That build, test, fix loop is the whole job.
- Show up early, look sharp, and bring one question about the team.
- Lead with reliability, safety, and eagerness to learn. That is what gets hired.
The Long Beach youth career center helps ages 14 to 30 with resumes, interviews, and training at no cost, and it even runs a Port of Long Beach internship. Ask a Woven facilitator how to get connected.