What Do the Robots Actually Do? Examples from Different Classes

I taught elementary to high school robotics for the past five summers. We add pool noodles so moving metal parts won't damage the classroom or the other robots. I try to let the students figure it out, and I mostly help by loosening over-tightened screws.

Drive Train

Most of the time, the robots roll around. This is either two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive depending on how many motors we have across the entire class.

A student drives around a totally made up obstacle course.
They were supposed to bump the last cup.

Line Finder

This was a Lego robot made by an elementary student to find and follow lines. The tradeoff for accuracy is usually speed and turning, and the line needs decently high contrast and good lighting.

Proof of concept. When it  kinda worked,
the laughter was worth the frustration of figuring it out.

Catapult

A simple design, but it requires students to balance speed and torque to move fast enough to launch the ball while also lifting itself up.

Notice the pool noodle as a physical stop.
These are surprisingly strong.

Whacky Arm

This just requires one motor, and a quick upgrade requires just one more perpendicular motor.

 

Linear Launcher

Rack gear launchers with a slip gear turn the rotational motion of the motor to a linear motion punch. I find the clash of metal it makes so satisfying.

 

Just short of three-in-a-row.

The robot version of the Bozo Cup Game.

Flywheel

Flywheels at this scale require a lot of compound gearing, getting the right angle, and making it all sturdy and compact enough to fit on the robot.

Discussion

I often advise students to think of designs that have real-world counterparts and to think about how it will all fit together at this scale. They only have a few tools, usually hex wrenches, to put the robots together, but a lot of it is facilitated by having a big enough set of parts. I try to get them to just keep building and modifying, while recording changes in their engineering notebook. They draw and list out what they plan on building each class.

Besides these short videos, the robots are ephemeral. They need to be taken apart so they can fit into storage each summer. But, ahem, hopefully the experience of building the robots has some small impact on lifelong learning. And that's worth it.

The organized chaos and clutter of a robotics classroom helps spur on little-c creativity.