ROBOTC 2

ROBOTC Graphical/ROBOTC Text ROBOTC 4

The Language of Robot Innovation!
Beginners start here...
ROBOTC 4.0 includes a drag and drop
graphical interface that provides a quick way
for teachers to introduce students to basic
programming logic.

ROBOTC graphical is not intended to replace

ph ical ROBOTC, but to provide a scaffolded on-ramp
TC Gra to begin to teach programming.
O
ROB

and quickly get here! Robot Virtual World Software

Simulation Software that makes a difference!

Stan Robot Virtual Worlds (RVW) has evolved into a

dard
ROB game changer in the world of robotics education.
OTC
RVW enables every student to have their own robot
to learn and practice programming. Students build
their program in simulation and then test it on a
physical robot. Homework packs are priced at less
than $5 per student.

Test your code with a virtual robot then use the same code on your physical robot!

Work on code for a VEX competition, new competitions are modeled each year

www.robotvirtualworlds.com

or have kids learn to write code using these fantasy challenges.

VEX® Cortex® Video Trainer Using ROBOTC® © 2015 Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy
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Teaching Robotics! What are you going to teach?

If you are new to robotics, or are designing your robotics course it is important to think about what you
want to teach. Yes, you are going to teach robotics, but what is it that your course will emphasize?
Robotics Academy research shows that any one robotics lesson can cover five or more different con-
cepts, and unless you foreground what you want students to learn, that little or no “new measurable
learning” will take place. Think about the following:
• Robotics is an eclectic mix of applied science, mathematics, computer science, mechanics,
physics, engineering design, sensors, problem solving... what will your course emphasize?
• When kids study robotics they can learn to develop 21st century skills like: cooperation and collabo-
ration, teamwork and problem solving, critical thinking and creativity... Are these skills important to you?
• When students engage in robotics engineering activities the can learn important lessons like: the
first step to solving a problem is to conduct research, how to allocate and manage time, the need
to develop a set of plans before you start building, the iterative nature of design, how to work with
and manage people... What activities will use in your course to teach these lessons?
• Each student that comes into your classroom has a different world experience that they draw
from. It is important to scaffold instruction but you don’t want to limit creativity. How can your
course support students with varying technical backgrounds?
General topics that robotics can teach
Robotics is a relatively new to education, and teachers and administrators have varying reasons
why they want to implement a robotics program; we’ve learned that there is no “one size fits all”. As
you are building your robotics program, you will want to carefully consider what it is that you want to
teach via robotics. Here are a couple of ideas:
• Grade level mathematics - there are many ways to mathematize robots via programming; computing
distances, angle, and unit rates, passing parameters in the form of formulas, and applying geometry
trigonometry, and physics to a student robot design.
• Reading and writing with understanding - There are many ways to incorporate research,
writing, and presentations into robotics courses. When students engage in an engineering design
problem they should begin by researching how others have solved the problem in the past. From
there they write up what they’ve learned and if time allows make a presentation. All of these skills tie
into the English and Language Arts College and Career Readiness Standards.
• Introductory through advanced programming concepts - Computational thinking and programming
are new basics that students must understand. See the K-12 Computer Science Teacher Association
Standards and you will find that robotics addresses many of those standards.
• Introduction to engineering - Robotics provides many opportunities for students to apply engineering
design principles to solve complex problems that require them to consider trade-offs such as costs,
safety, reliability, and aesthetics; they are learning engineering. These skills can be taught at the
elementary through college level and aligns with the new Science and Technology standards.
• Teaching technological literacy - Robotic systems require student to engage with computers, sensors,
the Internet, electrical mechanical actuators, and a plethora of evolving technologies.
• The development of 21st Century Skills - There are over 35,000 US school based robotics teams.
Robotics competitions are purposefully designed to place students in situations where they have to
work in teams and problem solve. Properly designed activities develop 21st century skills in students.

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents

Table of Contents
35 Navigating the
3 Things to Consider When
Teaching Robotics Curriculum
5 FAQ 35 The Fundamentals Chapter
6 Checklist/How do I use this 44 The Setup Chapter
teacher’s guide?
56 The Movement Chapter

7 Introduction 68
74
The Remote Control Chapter
The Sensing Chapter
7 VEX Video Trainer Lesson Structure 93 The Engineering Chapter
8 Classroom Setup & System
Requirements Important Resources!
9 What does the VEX Cortex Video
Trainer Teach/Differentiated Instruction 94 Safety
10 How do I use the Curriculum in 112 Breaking Programs into Behaviors
my classroom? 113 Sense Plan Act
11 What topics are covered in each Unit? 114 Teaching Pseudocode & Flowcharts
12-13 General Layout of the Curriculum 115-119 Introduction to Pseudocode
120-122 Introduction to Flowcharts
14 Scope and 124 Introduction to Robot Programming
Sequence 125 Teaching How to Troubleshoot Programs
45-46 Building Your Robot
14 Class Rules and Organization
33 & 98 Engineering Process
First Assignment
100 Project Planning
Safety
102 Assessment Rubrics
The Rube Goldberg Machine™
15 Your First Robot
Teaching Robot Math
Online Resources
Teaching Programming Using 104 www.vexteacher.com
Simulation Software 105 Teaching Engineering Design Process
The Movement Chapter 107 Planning Your Project: Technical Sketching
16 The Remote Control Chapter 110 VEX Robotics Competitions
The Sensing Chapter 110-111 VEX In-School Design Problems
The Engineering Chapter

17 Chapter Overview
17 The Fundamentals Chapter
18 The Setup Chapter
19 The Movement Chapter
25 The Remote Control Chapter
27 The Sensing Chapter
32 The Engineering Chapter

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Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Before starting
►► Will the VEX Cortex Video Trainer help me teach to Standards?
Yes! See Appendix
►► What do I need to prepare for class?
See Checklist, page 6; Lesson Structure, page 7; and Classroom Setup page 8.
►► What general topics are covered with the curriculum?
See Topics Covered, page 9 and 11 and the Chapter Overview on pages 17-34.
►► How do I use the VEX Cortex Video Trainer in the classroom?
See Using the VEX Cortex Video Trainer in Class, page 10.
►► I want to know what’s in each Chapter and Unit, where to I go?
See Chapter Overview Fundamentals page 17; Setup pages 18-19; movement, pages 19 - 24;
Remote Control, pages 25 - 26; Sensing pages 27 - 31; and Engineering pages 32 - 34.

During class
►► How do I teach kids to think about programming?
See “Breaking Programs into Behaviors” and “Sense Plan Act” pages 112 - 113.
►► What should I teach and when should I teach it?
See the Scope and Sequence section, pages 17 - 34.
►► What do I do about students who go faster/slower than the others?
See Differentiated Instruction, page 9.

After class
►► How do I prepare my kids for competitions?
See Robotics Competitions: see the Engineering Section pages 32 - 34 and pages 98 - 101.
►► Are there quizzes or homework?
Each sub unit page includes a series of “Check your understanding” questions that can be used to
develop a unit quiz. See Rubrics, pages 102 - 103. Robots are hard to take home, but there are
many ways to incorporate research assignments or Robot Virtual World assignments into home-
work assignments.

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Checklist/How do I use this teacher’s guide?

The curriculum guide is organized in four sections:
Introduction - pages 7-13 - background information to get started
Scope and Sequence - pages 14-16 - a short description of the curriculum
Chapter Overview - pages 17-34 - a detailed description of the curriculum
Navigating the Curriculum - pages 35-102 - a pictorial description of the curriculum

Identify the Goals of your Robotics Course

Robotics can be used to teach to lots of standards. This curriculum is designed to
introduce students to how to program, an important part of robotics, but not the only
thing that you can teach through robotics. Determine what you want students to learn
in your class. See page 3.

Set up the student workstations

See page 8, Workstation Setup.

(Recommended) Build the Clawbot with Sensors

VEX kit configuration has changed multiple times over the years. There are mul-
tiple robot build plans in the Setup section of the curriculum, we recommend that
your standard build is Clawbot. We also recommend that if your budget allows it,
that you have one set of robots to teach programming and another set of robot
parts to teach engineering and for competitions.

Become familiar with the lessons

See page 7 to become familiar with the lesson flow. Read the Scope and Se-
quence, pages 14-16; the Chapter Overview, pages 17 - 34, where each chapter
is described in a shortened format, and Navigating the Curriculum, pages 35 - 103,
where you will find a pictorial view of what you will find on each page of the VEX
Cortex Video Trainer.

Determine overall pacing for the module

Identify key dates that you would like to have each project due by; make these
clear to students in your syllabus or assignment sheets.

(Highly Recommended) Read the following lessons on how to teach students

about how to think about writing code for robots.
See Breaking Programs into Behaviors, page 112; Sense Plan Act, page 113;
Introduction to Pseudocode, page 114; and Introduction to Flowcharts, page 120.

(Highly Recommended) Get involved with the RECF Foundation’s annual VEX
competition challenge. The challenge changes every year and provides teachers
with a brilliant engineering problem for their class to solve each year.

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Introduction to the Teacher

VEX Video Trainer Lesson Structure
Guided Robot Programming Activities,
Extension Activities for Advanced Students,
and Engineering Investigations
The VEX Cortex Video Trainer Curriculum is designed to teach introductory level robot pro-
gramming, logic and reasoning skills, and engineering process using robotics at the context.
The core curriculum consists of four chapters (Movement, Remote Control, Sensing, and
Engineering) and each chapter is broken into units that teach key robotics programming and
engineering concepts. Additionally, there is a huge amount of support for teachers coaching teams
in Robotics Competitions for the first time; see the engineering section of the curriculum.

Each unit comprises a unit level programming challenge that students will to solve by the
end of the unit.
►► ROBOTC RBC Files RBC files are starter programs that will automatically open once your
software is installed and configured, click the file and the starter program will open. Some
browsers will require uses to save and then open the file using ROBOTC software.

►► Additional Unit Level Robotic Programming Challenges and setup guides

►► Step-by-step guided video instruction that introduces key lesson concepts (e.g. Loops).
Students are taught programming using a step-by-step process; foundational programming
concepts are integrated into each unit and repeated in subsequent units.

►► Built-in “Check your understanding” questions designed to provide students with in-
stant feedback on whether they understood the big ideas in each lesson.

►► Reference Guides that are designed to support the lesson (e.g. white space, comments,
loops, conditional statements, Boolean logic, etc.)

►► Engineering Investigations that guide students through an engineering experiment, the

activities are designed to deepen students’ understanding of that concept.

►► Robot Virtual World extension activities. The RVW activities are designed to significantly
enhance student’s programming opportunities allowing them to program robots underwater,
on an island, in outer space, and via a VEX Cortex international competition. Students are
able to use the same programming commands on their virtual solution as they do on their
physical robot.

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Classroom Setup
What is the best setup for student workstations?
Ideally, pairs of students will work together at one computer, with one VEX robot.
Set up each workstation with:
a. ROBOTC 4 for VEX Software installed on each computer.
• Check each computer to see that the software works
• Check each computer to see that Robot Virtual World software works
b. Access to the The VEX Cortex Video Trainer Curriculum software
• This can be installed locally or on a local network server with proper licensing
• This may also be accessed remotely via Internet, if your school’s network
infrastructure and policies allow
c. Two pairs of headphones with headphone splitters
• One pair for each student
• Avoid using speakers, as multiple workstations in the same classroom will
generate too much overlapping noise
d. One VEX Cortex robot kit per work station
e. ROBOT Virtual World Software This software is not required to use the curriculum
and complete the lessons, but research shows that it is a very effective tool to
teach programming.

What are the System Requirements for the

VEX Cortex Video Trainer Curriculum?
Introduction to Programming VEX Curriculum
• HTML5-compatible browser (Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer 10+)
• Tablets (iPad, Android, Windows) with HTML5 browsers should work as well
when accessing the curriculum from the Internet

Robot Virtual World Software

• PC Compatible OS: with an Intel Core 2 processor family or better

• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA® 8800GTS or better, ATI Radeon™ HD 3850 or better
• Hard Drive: 1.5 GB free hard drive space to install all virtual worlds

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What does the VEX Cortex

Video Trainer Teach?
►► How to control basic robot movements
a. Robot math
b. Sequences of commands, structures, computational thinking
►► Sensors and how they work
►► Intermediate concepts of programming
a. Program Flow Model
b. Programming Remote Controls
c. Decision-Making Structures
• Loops
• Conditionals
• Functions
►► Teach troubleshooting strategies and engineering practices
a. Problem-solving strategies
b. Teamwork
►► The iterative nature of engineering design and process

Differentiated Instruction
One of the biggest challenges facing teachers today is meeting the needs of each
individual student in their classroom; that is the core of differentiated instruction. Differentiated
instruction asks teachers to approach students at their instructional level, and requires
students to show evidence of growth from their instructional level. Differentiated instruction
encompasses more than just assessment. It involves all aspects of instruction: classroom
delivery, overall learning environment, learning content, and assessment. The VEX Cortex
Video Trainer provides many opportunities for students of all abilities:

►► Programming - the unit challenges are supported by step-by-step instructional videos that
students can work through at their own pace.

►► Solving the open-ended programming challenges embedded into the units that make up the
Movement, Remote Control, Sensing, and Engineering Units.

►► Completing the virtual programming challenges found in the Robot Virtual World games
(Ruins of Atlantis, Palm Island, Operation Reset, Highrise): attempt to complete the entire
world, or choose to program different robots within a Virtual World.

►► Challenging gifted students to iteratively improve their engineering and programming solu-
tions using ROBOTC.

►► Working cooperatively with students having difficulty grasping some concepts.

►► Engaging in engineering challenges that are found in robotics competitions.

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Using the VEX Cortex Video Trainer in Class

The VEX Cortex Video Trainer Curriculum is designed for student self-pacing in small groups,
preferably pairs that are working together at one computer, with one VEX Cortex robot. It can
also be used in “virtual mode” where students are learning programming using a virtual robot
that is programmed using the exact same commands that they will use on their actual VEX
Cortex robot.
Programming tasks are designed to involve some – but not extensive – mechanical consider-
ation, so that hands-on design tasks may remain authentic without becoming logistically
difficult. The Engineering section enables larger teams and requires more building.
Solutions will not need parts in excess of those included in the VEX Cortex core set, so it is
sufficient to leave each team with one kit (although access to additional parts may allow
students to construct more creative solutions to problems).
A typical plan for a programming unit (movement, remote control, and sensing) is:
1. Review the unit challenge which is always the first lesson on the page.
2. Groups proceed through the video trainer materials at their own pace, watching the video
and then answering the Check Your Understanding questions.
3. At the bottom of many of the pages students will find Engineering Investigations and/or
Programming Challenges (see pictures below). They should complete the challenges in the
order that they are presented.
4. Each group constructs its own solution to the Unit Challenge
• Groups may be asked to document their solutions in journals or logs, and especially to
explain how they overcame the key problems identified at the start of the unit
5. Assign the Additional assignments based on the focus of the class
• There are many handouts and challenges that allow teachers to extend the use of the
curriculum to teach engineering practices, prepare for robotic competitions, or teach
computational thinking generally
• Complete teacher assigned work.

Engineering Investigations and Programming Challenges

At the bottom of many of the lessons students

will find programming challenges and
engineering investigations. The Basketball
Drills picture shows the icon that indicates a
programming challenge, the Power Levels with
Encoders icon represents and Engineering
Investigation

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Topics are Covered in Each Unit

Unit Name Main Topics
Fundamentals - 10 days
Introduction to Programming Basic rules on how to think about program-
ming and syntax
Natural Language Programming A set of reference documents on Natural
Language programming
Setup - 10 days
Build Robot Building Instructions
Wireless System Configuration How to setup and configure VEX Cortex
wireless communications
Wired System Configuration How to configure a wired system
Downloading Sample Programs How to download a sample program, there
are nearly 200 sample programs!
Virtual Robot Configuration How to use Robot Virtual Worlds
Movement Unit - 20 days
Moving Forward Level one programming
Speed and Direction How to change speed and direction
Shaft Encoders Loops, configure and use shaft encoders
Automated Straightening If/Else, variables, and values
Integrated Encoders How to use IMEs, PID, and precise movement
Remote Control - 15 days
Joystick Mapping How to program the VEXnet Joystick
Timers How to program and use Timers
Buttons How to program buttons on the VEX Joy-
stick
Sensing - 25 days
Limit the Arm The Touch Sensor
Behaviors and Function Functions and Parameters
Forward Until Near The Ultrasonic Sensor
Line Tracking Line Tracking Sensors
Turn for Angle The Gyro Sensor
Using the LCD Displaying Messages on the LCD
Engineering - semester
Safety Handouts and quizzes
VEX Hardware Handouts and guides
Engineering Process Instructional videos and handouts
Competition Programming Instructional videos and handouts
Rubrics Assessment rubrics

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General Layout of the VEX Cortex

Video Trainer Using ROBOTC
The VEX Cortex Video Trainer uses the buttons at the top of the page to navigate the
Fundamentals, Setup, Movement, Remote Control, Sensing, and Engineering sections of the
curriculum. The last button, Reference, is designed to allow the user to navigate the whole
curriculum to find a handout or video lesson.

General layout continued next page.

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General Layout continued

Sub-Page Example

ROBOTC Fundamentals Video

Each lesson has an individual
video to support students

Check your Understandings

Questions designed to provide
students time to reflect on what
they just learned
Reference Materials
to support the lesson

Sub-Pages
Each sub page within the main navigation
opens to a sub-page. Pictured at the right is
the ROBOTC Rules Part 1 sub-page. The
majority of the pages contain one short video.
As set of “check your understandings” questions
that asks students questions about the video
that they just watched, and additional reference
materials if they are important to the lesson.

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Scope and Sequence

This scope and sequence is a short three page version of what a year long class might
look like. For a more detailed description of what is in each chapter go to the Chapter
Overview section starting on page 17. The outline below uses the following format:
Approximate A brief description of the lesson and where to find it in the curriculum.
Class Days

Introduction to Robotics Course Outline

Note: there are many ways to teach this course. This set of general
guidelines assumes that you want to teach a robotics engineering course
and want to begin by teaching programming.

3-5 days Class Rules and Organization/Assessment/Engineering Journal

The first week of class covers classroom organization and an overview of what students
will learn in your class. A key concept that students should have when they leave this
course is: “What a robot?”. In today’s world, robots are everywhere, we just don’t call
them robots. Begin with the handout on page 15, Sense Plan Act. Have the students
identify as many technologies that fit that description as possible and sort them into
industry sectors (i.e. banking, manufacturing, entertainment, healthcare...). Have students
select an industry sector and answer the following question: How has robotics affected
that industry sector? Or assign them the general topic: What is a robot?

First Assignment - “What is a robot?”

3-5 days Safety Lesson - page 32 and pages 94-95
Safety is an integral part of an robotics course and should be covered at the beginning
of the class and then strictly enforced throughout the year. You will find many handouts,
worksheets, and quizzes in the Safety Unit found in the Engineering Chapter. Every class
setting is different, it is the responsibility of the teacher to select the appropriate handouts
and tools to teach safety in their class. It is paramount that students understand that a
clean lab is a safe lab and that they are responsible to cleanup at the end of each day.

10 days Introduction to Engineering (Rube Goldberg Machine™) - Internet

Students will be working on engineering design problems throughout their robotics
class. A good first assignment is to randomly break students into teams and have them
complete a “Rube Goldberg Machine” (RGM). RBM contests are designed to encourage
teamwork and out-of-the-box problem solving, it is also a fun activity that allows you
to introduce the engineering process activities that are presented in the Engineering
Chapter: Engineering Process, Engineering Design Journals, Teamwork, Project
Planning, PERT or Gantt Charts, etc. It will be the up to the teacher to determine what
parts students will use for their RGMs (e.g. VEX parts, random parts from home, or a
combination of parts) Be sure to set a limit on the number of days that you give students
to complete their project. For RGM rules go to www.rubegoldberg.com

The RGM project also provides the teacher with the opportunity to introduce students to
the assessment tools that they will use throughout the course.

Rubrics - Introduce students to your evaluation tools

• Engineering Journal Rubric - pages 98-101
• Work Habits Rubric - page 102
• Writing and Proposal Rubrics - page 102
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Scope and Sequence Continued

5-10 days Setup Unit
• Build Robot - pages 45-46
If you do not have robots built, then now is the time to build them. There are an
unlimited number of robot builds that you can design using VEX kits, we suggest
that you use the “Clawbot with Sensors” build. It is important that whatever teaching
robot that you choose for your class to build that all of the robots have the same
configuration (motors are in the same ports, sensors are in the same ports, all robots
have the same gripper). If every student’s robot is different, uses different mechanics,
has sensors plugged into different ports, and has different types of grippers, then it
will take you much longer to help them to troubleshoot their robot’s problems.

Once the Robots are Built Test Them

• Robot Configuration - see pages 47-48
• Download a sample program - see page 49
5 days Teaching Robot Math - Expedition Atlantis Robot Math Game
Expedition Atlantis is a free math programming game that has proven to teach robot
math to students. It is easier to teach the math without having students worry about
the programming. You can download the software from the Robot Virtual World
website. The software includes an easy to follow teacher guide.

Teaching Programming Using Simulation Software - pages 53-54

Many teachers are turning to Robot Virtual World software to teach the programming
portion of the curriculum. Research shows that when students are trying to learn
multiple concepts at the same time (programming, mechanics, sensors, and math)
that they become confused. It is much easier to foreground and teach one concept at
a time rather than try to teach multiple concepts at a time. The Robot Virtual World
software eliminates students having to learn the mechanics of the system (How do
I configure my robot to talk with VEXnet? What port am I plugged into? Is my robot
battery charged? Did someone in another class change things on my robot?). The
curriculum can ge taught without RVWs, but RVWs is a more efficient way to teach
robot programming.

20 days The Movement Chapter - pages 19-24 and pages 56-67

The Movement Chapter provides a scaffolded way to introduce students to basic
programming using ROBOTC and VEX robots. Each Chapter in the curriculum
includes a Chapter Challenge; in the Movement Chapter the challenge is the
Labyrinth Challenge.

IMPORTANT Begin the chapter by introducing the challenge and explain to students that they will
learn to program the Labyrinth Challenge multiple ways, from using very simple timing
to using feedback from encoders, to developing their own automated straightening
algorithm, to using PID. The curriculum uses this “simple to efficient” way to introduce
programming concepts to students in all of the chapters. For students to truly learn
programming, they should complete all methods of solving the challenge.

FUNDAMENTALS Begin with the “Moving Forward” unit in the Movement Chapter before you spend
CHAPTER time in the Fundamentals Chapter. Once students complete the Moving Forward
unit they will have context that they can relate to when the learn what is taught in the
Fundamentals Chapter. The Fundamental Chapter teaches students: how machines
think, what behaviors are, and what comments, whitespace , reserved words,
compiler errors, and general rules around syntax are. Students can begin by using
pseudocode in the Movement Chapter and flowcharts in the Remote Control and
Sensor’s Chapter when the programming logic becomes more complex.

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Scope and Sequence Continued

15 days The Remote Control Chapter - pages 25-26 and pages 68-73
The Remote control unit begins with the Minefield Challenge. Once again, the chapter
is structured showing simple methods and then advanced methods of programming.
This chapter also introduces students to Loops, Boolean Logic, Timers, and
programming the VEX remote control buttons to automatically elicit specific behaviors
(i.e. press this button and do a 90 degree turn).

It is common for beginning programmers to write programs that compile and that
Pseudocode they believe that the logic is correct, but then the robot doesn’t do what they think
and that it should do. Starting with the Remote Control chapter, require students write
Flowcharts their program using pseudocode and then develop a flowchart that illustrates the
robot’s decision making. You will find classroom resources to teach these important
processes on pages 17 - 25 of this teacher’s guide.

Minefield The Minefield Competition is and end of chapter activity that provides a game like
environment that is motivating to many students. Feel free to modify the game.
Competition
Provide opportunities for student to write the rules for the game.

25 days The Sensing Chapter - pages 27-31 and pages 74-92

The Sensing Chapter begins with the Grand Challenge. The Grand Challenge
provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate the ability to use all of the
The Grand sensors. What is shown on the Grand Challenge video is an example of what the
Challenge! challenge could look like. We recommend that you provide students with a set
of behaviors (not the actual code) that their robot will need to complete and that
you don’t actually share the challenge with them until two days before the actual
challenge. For example, you robot will need to be able to complete the following
behaviors: Stop at a black line, turn accurately using feedback from a gyro sensor,
identify the distance from an object using feedback from an ultrasonic sensor, and
identify the location of an object and pick it up and come home.

The Sensing Chapter continues to build on a student’s basic understanding of

programming and logic. There are many ways to program a robot to complete a task.
It is important for the teacher to not only watch the robot perform the task, but also to
look at the student’s code to make sure that they are applying all of the programming
concepts that each individual unit attempts to teach.

The programming unit teaches students how to write functions and pass parameters,
about variable types, if/else statements, switch cases, and all of the VEX Cortex
sensors. The curriculum continues to use many challenges that the students have
seen before, but requires them to solve the challenge using a different, more
advanced programming strategy. Feel free to allow the students to modify the
programming challenges as long as they teach the same foundational concepts.
Second
The Engineering Chapter - pages 32-34 and pages 93-103
Semester The VEX Cortex Video Trainer is intended to be used to teach students introductory
90 Days programming. To truly learn engineering, students must be engaged in multiple
engineering problems. We strongly suggest that you enroll your students in a
Robotics Education and Competition Foundation (RECF) competition. The RECF
sponsors a new competition each year and provides teachers with a great tool to
teach engineering with. When students are given a problem have them begin by
conducting research to see how others solved the problem. Require them to use all of
the engineering tools found in the Engineering Chapter: the Engineering Journal, time
management tools like PERT and Gantt Charts, and Design Reviews.

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Chapter Overview
What topics are covered in each Unit?
Chapter: Fundamentals - 10 days
1. Introduction to Programming - 5 days, then ongoing
a. Programmer and Machine - an instructional video that introduces the new programmer
to how they need to think to translate their ideas into a language that a machine can
understand.
b. Planning and Behaviors - an instructional video that introduces the new programmer
to the idea of robot behaviors. This sub-unit also includes three reference PDFs:
Behaviors, Pseudocode and Flowchards, and Thinking about Programming.
c. ROBOTC Rules Part 1 - an instructional video that introduces students to C program-
ming syntax and how ROBOTC uses color to indicate reserved words. The sub-unit
also includes two reference PDFs: Whitespace and Reserved Words.
d. ROBOTC Rules Part 2 - a followup instructional video that continues to teach students
about syntax, comments, and error messages. This sub-unit also includes three
reference PDFs: Comments, ROBOTC Error Messages, and ROBOTC Rules.
e. In this teacher guide you will find several introduction to programming guides:
• Breaking Programs into behaviors, page 14
• Sense Plan Act, page 15
• Introduction to pseudocode, pages 16 - 21
• Introduction to flowcharts, pages 22 - 25
2. Natural Language Programming
a. Natural Language programming places code segments into functions and is intended
to make it easier to enable new programmers to program simple code. Natural
Language provides a bridge between ROBOTC Graphical and full ROBOTC.

It is our recommendation that teachers and students learn to program using full
ROBOTC and use the Movement, Remote Control, and Sensing units as they are
currently written and supported to teach and learn VEX robot programming.

The Natural Language programming unit contains a large number of reference guides
that have been added as a resource for teachers.

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Chapter Overview Continued

Chapter: Setup
The Setup Unit contains resources that you and your students can use the first time that they
are starting with their robots.
1. Lesson: Build
The build section includes building instructions for four robot types.
a. Recbot Building Instructions
b. Squarebot 4 Building Instructions for use with ProtoBot kits
c. Clawbot with Sensors Building Instructions (recommended build for this curriculum)
d. Swervebot Building Instructions
2. Wireless System Configuration
a. Update Cortex Firmware (Wireless) - an instructional video that guides the new user
how to update the Cortex firmware with the Master CPU Firmware and the ROBOTC
Firmware. This unit also includes Check your Understanding questions and a VEX
Cortex Driver Installation guide produced by VEX robotics.
b. Updating VEXnet Joystick Firmware - an instructional video that shows the new user
how to update the VEXnet Joystick with the latest firmware using ROBOTC. The
lesson also includes Check Your Understanding questions and two PDFs:
Establishing a VEXnet Link and VEXnet Joystick Calibration
3. Wired System Configuration
a. Update Cortex Firmware (Wired) - an instructional video that guides the new user
how to update the Cortex firmware with the Master CPU Firmware and the ROBOTC
Firmware. This unit also includes Check Your Understanding questions and a VEX
Cortex Driver Installation guide produced by VEX robotics.
4. Download Sample Programs
a. Download a Sample Program Part 1 - An instructional video that shows how to
download a sample program over VEXnet. The lesson also includes a USB-to-Serial
Cable Driver Installation instructional PDF.
b. Download a Sample Program Part 2 - The second part of the Download Sample
Program video. This lesson also includes Check Your Understanding questions.
c. Download a Sample Program over USB - and instructional PDF that takes the new
programmer step-by-ste through the download sample program over USB proce-
dure.

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Chapter Overview Continued

Chapter: Setup Continued

5. Virtual Robot Configuration
a. Download your First Program (Virtual) - Robot Virtual Worlds (RVW) enable all kids
with computers to have access to a robot. This lesson includes an instructional video
and Check Your Understanding questions. You can find out more about RVWs at:
www.robotvirtualworlds.com
b. Camera Operation in RVWs - This lesson shows how to use some of the additional
controls in the RVW environment. This lesson includes an instructional video and
Check Your Understanding questions.
c. The Measurement Toolkit - This lesson shows a new RVW user how to use the tools
found in the measurement toolkit which are embedded into all RVWs. This lesson
includes an instructional video and Check Your Understanding questions.

Chapter: Movement Chapter - 20 days

1. Labyrinth Challenge Unit/Movement Chapter
a. The Labyrinth Challenge - This lesson set is designed to show the challenge that
students will work on for their first problem. The Labyrinth Challenge requires
students to program their robot to travel a specific distance, turn accurately, and
then repeat these behaviors multiple times.
Note: RBC files are used throughout the curriculum. They are designed to
automatically start a program when you are ready to begin programming. At the
left is the virtual robot icon and you will need to have a working copy of RVWs
in order to open that file type. At the right (below) is a physical robot icon. When
you select those files and click them ROBOTC will automatically open.

2. Moving Forward Unit/Movement Chapter - 5 days

a. Program Dissection - This lesson explains what the introductory lines of code do. It
also begins to teach some of the syntax related to ROBOTC. This lesson set in-
cludes: an instructional video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and
an instructional PDF that walks students through the steps to run a program.

Continued next page

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Chapter Overview Continued

b. Reversing Motor Polarity - This lesson shows the student how to program
their robot to move backward by changing the polarity of their motors. The
lesson set includes: an instructional video, RBC files, and Check Your
Understanding questions.
c. Renaming Motors - This lesson teaches students how to use the Motors
and Sensors setup window to give custom names to individual robot
motors. The lesson set includes: an instructional video, RBC files, and
Check Your Understanding questions.
d. Timing - This lesson teaches students how to adjust how long a motor is
turned on and off using timing. The lesson set includes: an instructional
video, RBC files, and Check Your Understanding questions.

RVW RBC File

Physical Robot RBC File

Double click the file and
ROBOTC opens

Moving Forward Programming and Engineering Investigation - The Moving

Forward lesson includes two simple programming and engineering investiga-
tions. The SumoBot Challenge requires student to change power levels and
to investigate what that does to rotational torque. The Wait State Investigation
requires students to change the amount of time that the robot moves and to re-
cord the distance that it travels. Both of these investigations can be completed
in either a physical or virtual environment.

3. Speed and Direction Unit/Movement Chapter - 5 days

a. Motor Power Levels - This lesson explains how to change the power levels
programmatically. The lesson includes: an instructional video, RBC files,
Check Your Understanding questions, and two programming investigations:
Simulated Acceleration and Power Levels.

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Chapter Overview Continued

Speed and Direction Unit/Movement Chapter Continued

The Motor Power Levels Unit includes to programming challenges. Simulated
Acceleration is a very simple excise that requires students to simulate a robot
accelerating. At this point students are still learning code and this is providing
them practice writing code and understanding how pseudocode works. The Power
Levels Engineering Investigation provides students with an opportunity to find out
if there is a proportional relationship between Power Levels and distance travelled.

b. Turn and Reverse - This lesson is designed to show students how to make
different types of turns. The lesson includes an instructional video, RBC files,
Check Your Understanding questions, and two programming investigations: the
Turning Investigation and the Sentry Simulation Level 1.

The Turning Investigation is designed to provide students with the opportunity to

practice with swing turns and point turns. They are asked to conduct an experi-
ment that involves programming their robot to turn and then change a value and
predict how far the robot will turn given the change in the value.
The Sentry Simulation requires students to program a robot using timing to march
around a square. Students are required to answer questions about what happens
when they change values in their programs.

a. Manual Straightening - This lesson requires students to make adjustments to

their robot to make sure that it goes perfectly straight. This is the most primitive
way to program their robot and will not be used once they begin using sensor
feedback. The lesson includes a video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding
questions, and an additional programming challenge named: Drive Straight.

Continued next page

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Chapter Overview Continued

3. Shaft Encoders - 5 days

a. Shaft Encoders - This lesson explains how shaft encoders work. The lesson
includes: an instructional video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions,
and a PDF reference guide that explains how the shaft encoders work.
b. Forward for Distance Part 1 - Explains how to program shaft encoders and how to
use the Motors and Sensors Setup window. The lesson includes: an instructional
video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions.
c. Forward for Distance Part 2 - Continues to explain how to use and program shaft
encoders and why it is important to clear the encoders and how a while loop
works. This lesson includes an instructional video, Check for Understanding ques-
tions, RBC files, a reference PDF that explains how While Loops work, and two
reference videos that explain Boolean Logic.

While Loop reference handout - this handout explains how

while loops are used in programming.

Boolean Logic reference videos - Boolean Logic is used to

help the robot to make decisions. It is critical that students
understand this concept and is sometimes difficult for
students to understand. These videos will be found in
multiple places in the curriculum.

d. The Sensor Debug Window - The debugger is an incredible tool that is included
within ROBOTC. MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS KNOW HOW TO USE THE
DEBUGGER! This lesson includes an instructional video, RBC files, Check Your
Understanding questions, and two programming challenges: Basketball Drills and
Power Levels with Encoders.

e. Forward and Turning - This lesson completes the introduction to shaft encoders
lesson and includes a summary video, Check Your Understanding questions,
RBC files, and an additional Engineer Investigation called Turning with Encoders.

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Chapter Overview Continued

4. Automated Straightening Unit/Movement Chapter - 5 days

a. Automated Straightening Part 1 - This lesson teaches students to use a com-
bination of encoders and conditional statements to have the robot self correct
its forward movements. The lesson includes an instructional video, RBC files,
Check Your Understanding questions, and an “if-else” reference guide.

The if-else reference guide provides

multiple examples with comments on how
the if-else structure can be used.

b. Automated Straightening Part 2 - Completes the video instruction. The lesson

includes an instructional video, Check Your Understanding questions, RBC
files, and to programming challenges: Driving Straight 2 and Seeing the Difference.

Driving Straight 2 challenges students to solve the same course that they solved
earlier, but this time they are using feedback from sensors and an algorithm that
they just developed. Hopefully they see that using sensors and programming is
much better than motors and timing.
Seeing the Difference requires students to use the built in debugger. The debugger
is a programmer’s best friend and this investigation is designed to give students
practice using the debugger.

c. Values and Variables Part 1- This teaches students about variables and the
power of using variables when writing code. This lesson includes an instruc-
tional video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and two refer-
ence PDFs: Variables and Global Variables.

Variables are very important in programming. These two reference guides teach
students about variable types, how to declare variables, and provide commented
examples of variables being used in code.

Continued next page

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Chapter Overview Continued

Automated Straightening Unit/Movement Chapter Continued

d. Values and Variables Part 2 - This lesson is part two of values and variables.
Students are required to create two variable in their program and use them to
make programming more efficient. This lesson set includes an instructional
video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and the Robot
Acceleration programming challenge.

Students completed this challenge several units ago.

This time, they are able to create a variable and
manipulate it mathematically.

5. Integrated Encoders Unit/Movement Chapter - 5 days

a. Forward for Distance IME - This lesson teachers students how to use Integrat-
ed Motor Encoders. This lesson set includes an instructional video, RBC files,
Check Your Understanding questions, and an Integrated Motor Module refer-
ence guide produced by VEX Robotics.
b. Principles of PID - This lesson teaches students about how a Proportional
Integral Derivative controller works. This lesson set includes an instructional
video and Check Your Understanding questions.
c. Forward for Distance PID - Teaches students how to control the distance that
the robot moves using IMEs and PID. The lesson set includes an instructional
video, Check Your Understanding questions, and RBC files.
d. Forward for Target Distance - This lesson teaches students how to stop in
an exact location using the MoveMotorTarget command. They will also learn
about idle loops and logical operators. They will need to review logical opera-
tors using the Boolean Logic 2 reference video. This lesson set includes the
instructional video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and two
programming challenges: Basketball Drills and Sentry Simulation.

Students completed this challenge several units ago using only timing, now they can
use motor encoders and PID and they should see that they can program their robot
to move more accurately this time.

Continued next page

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Chapter Overview Continued

Chapter: Remote Control - 15 days

1. The Minefield Challenge/Remote Control Chapter
a. The Minefield Challenge - this video and PDF show students what the culminating
activity for the chapter will look like. In this chapter, students learn how to program
their VEXnet Joystick.

Pseudocode and Flowcharts - 3 days then ongoing

Note: It is important to require students to use pseudocode and flowcharts now! Students
will develop their initial code using pseudocode and then develop a flowchart that shows
the robot’s decision making.
Find lesson resources on pages 17 - 25 in this teacher’s guide.
2. Joystick Mapping Unit/Remote Control Chapter - 3 days
a. Introduction to Remote Control - this video shows how remote control works with the
VEX Cortex system. This lesson set includes a video, Check Your Understanding
questions, and a VEXnet Joystick Calibration PDF.
b. Real-Time Control - In this lesson students experiment with an existing sample
program and attempt to optimize their real-time remote control. They will learn how
the while loop works and Boolean Logic. This lesson set includes an instructional
video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and two reference handouts:
While Loops, and Boolean Logic.
Students will use While Loops and
Boolean Logic for most programming
activities moving forward. These are
important reference guides for them.

c. Mapping Values Part 1 - This lesson set teaches students which joystick button and
stick maps to which values.
d. Mapping Values Part 2 - This video completes the Joystick Mapping lesson and
teaches students how to adjust the speed of the motors. The lesson includes: instruc-
tional videos, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and several program-
ming challenges: Robo-Slalom and Race to the Finish.

Continued next page

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Chapter Overview Continued

3. Timers Unit/Remote Control Chapter - 2 days
a. Time and Timers- In the first lesson in this lesson set, students learn about Timers
and how they can be used in programming. This lesson includes an instructional
video, Check Your Understanding questions, and a PDF reference guide on using
Timers with ROBOTC.

b. Using Timers - In this lesson students learn to implement timers in their programs.
This lesson includes an instructional video, RBC file, Check Your Understanding
questions, and two programming challenges: Round Up, and Bull In the Ring.

Round Up and Bull In the Ring are two

simple remote control programming
challenges. Encourage students to
modify the challenges to make them
more engaging.

4. Buttons Unit/Remote Control Chapter - 5 days

a. Remote Control Buttons - in this video lesson students learn how to identify and pro-
gram the buttons on the top and front of the remote control.
b. Remote Start - In this lesson students will learn how to program the robot to start
using a button on the remote control. This lesson set includes an instructional video,
RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and a programming challenge
named: Remote Control Buttons.
c. The Remote Control Buttons challenge is designed to
guide students as they program the buttons on their VEX
remote control. The programmable remote control is a
very powerful tool in robotics competitions. Encourage
students to program robot behaviors to their buttons. For
example, BtnX makes the robot turn right.

d. Controlling the Arm Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3 - This lesson provides a step-by-step set
of instructions to program their robot’s arm to be controlled by the remote control.
The lesson set includes three instructional videos, RBC files, Check Your Under-
standing questions, and three practice programming challenges.

5. Conduct a Minefield Challenge In-class Competition! - 2 days

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Chapter Overview Continued

Chapter: Sensing - 25 days

1. The Grand Challenge/Sensing Chapter
a. The Grand Challenge is a teacher designed challenge that provides an opportunity for
the student to demonstrate that they know all of the sensors, how to write functions
and pass parameters, and can write reusable code. Tell students in advance by the
end of the chapter that they will need to write functions that enable their robot to use
feedback from sensors to solve multiple programmable tasks. The video and PDF on
the Grand Challenge page show and example of what the challenge might look like.
2. Limiting the Arm Unit/Sensing Chapter - 5 days
a. Configuring Sensors - this lesson teaches students how to use the Motors and Sensor
Setup window to configure the robot’s sensors. This lesson set includes an instruction-
al video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and two reference guides:
Sensors and Servo Modules.

The Sensors and the Servo Modules

reference guides explain how VEX
sensors and servo modules work.

b. Limiting the Arm Part 1 and Part 2 - In this lesson students will learn how to use both
the touch sensor and the potentiometer to control the arm on the robot. This lesson
set includes an instructional video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions,
several additional programming challenges and reference handouts.

These five challenges can only be

completed using physical robots.
The if-else, Switch Cases, and
Potentiometer reference guides provide
the student with sample code that
helps them to understand how these
structures work.

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Chapter Overview Continued

3. Behaviors and Functions Unit/Sensing Chapter - 7-8 days

a. Behaviors and Functions Part 1 and Part 2 - In this lesson set students will learn how
functions can make their programs shorter and easier to follow. The lesson set in-
cludes: two instructional videos, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and
two programming challenges.

b. Passing Parameters Part 1 and Part 2 - In this lesson set students learn about the
power of using parameters in functions. The lesson set includes: two instructional
videos, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and four programming
challenges.

Seeing the difference can only be completed using a physical robot.

4. Forward Until Near Unit/Sensing Chapter - 5 days
a. The Ultrasonic Rangefinder - In this lesson students will learn what an Ultrasonic
Rangefinder is and how it works. The lesson includes: an instructional video, Check
Your Understanding questions, and the Ultrasonic Rangefinder reference guide.

b. Forward until Near - In this lesson student will learn how to write a program that uses
the ultrasonic rangefinder. This lesson set includes an instructional video, RBC files,
Check Your Understanding questions, several additional programming challenges and
a Thresholds reference handout.

Continued next page

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Chapter Overview Continued

4. Forward Until Near Unit/Sensing Chapter Continued
d. Straight Until Near - In this lesson students will learn how to implement the straight
until near behavior. The lesson includes: an instructional video, RBC files, Check Your
Understanding questions, and two programming challenges.

e. Straight Until Near (Fine Tuning) - In this lesson student will complete their Forward
Until Near coding. This lesson set includes an instructional video, RBC files, Check
Your Understanding questions, an additional programming challenge and the Boolean
Logic reference guide.

Note: Logical operators can be tricky for

students to understand. This may be a
good time to review this concept with
your class.

5. Line Tracking Sensors Unit/Sensing Chapter - 10 days

a. Line Tracking Sensors - this lesson reviews the sensors students have used up to
this point in the curriculum and then teaches students how VEX Cortex Line Tracking
sensors work. This lesson set includes an instructional video, RBC files, Check Your
Understanding questions, and two reference guides: Build instructions for Swervebot
and a Line Follower reference guide.

Note: Linetracking is difficult with some robot types. You may want to have a
specially built robot specifically for this lesson because it takes a very long time
for students to take apart and build a new robot. Another option is to complete the
lesson using the Robot Virtual World simulation software.

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Chapter Overview Continued

Line Tracking Sensors Unit/Sensing Chapter Continued

b. Calculating Thresholds - In this lesson students will learn how to calculate the a
threshold value using feedback from the ROBOTC debugger. The lesson includes: an
instructional video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, a programming
challenge, and two reference guides.

c. Basic Line Tracking - This lesson teaches students how to write a program that will
complete a basic line tracking behavior. The lesson includes an instructional video,
RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and two programming challenges.

d. Line Tracking for Distance - In this lesson students will learn how to use feedback from
multiple sensors to track a line and stop at a specific distance. The lesson includes: an
instructional video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, a programming
challenge.

e. Optimized Line Tracking - In this lesson students will learn how to optimize their
motor speeds in order to track lines more efficiently. The lesson includes: an
instructional video, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and two
programming challenges.

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Chapter Overview Continued

6. Turn for Angle Unit/Sensing Chapter - 5 days
a. The Gyro Sensor - In this lesson students will learn how the Gyro Sensor works. The
lesson includes: an instructional video and Check Your Understanding questions.
b. Turn for Angle Part 1 and Part 2 - In this lesson set students will learn how to program
their robot to use feedback from a gyro sensor to perform a measured turn. This les-
son set includes two instructional videos, RBC files, Check Your Understanding ques-
tions, and three programming challenges.

Note: Students have seen variants of these robot challenges before. The difference
now is that they have more programming tools to work with. Encourage students to
modify the programming challenges to make them more interesting.
7. Intro to the LCD - 5 days
a. The VEX LCD - In this lesson students will learn about the many uses of the VEX
LCD. This lesson set includes an instructional video, Check Your Understanding ques-
tions, and the VEX LCD reference guide.

b. Displaying Text - In this lesson teaches students how to use the VEX LCD as an
output device. The lesson includes an instructional video, RBC files, and Check Your
Understanding questions.
c. Displaying Sensor Values - In this lesson teaches students how to continually update
the values on the LCD and to display current robot sensor values. The lesson includes
an instructional video, RBC files, and Check Your Understanding questions.
Note: Have students go back to several previous programming challenges and to
modify the programming challenges so that students can see real time sensing
feedback on the LCD.

8. Compete in the Grand Challenge Competition - 5 days

The Grand Challenge is a teacher designed programming competition where the
students don’t get the actual challenge until two days before the competition. One
week before the competition they will learn about the behaviors that their robot need
to perform. For example, you robot will need to be able to complete the following
behaviors: Stop at a black line, turn accurately using feedback from a gyro sensor,
identify the distance from an object using feedback from an ultrasonic sensor, and
identify the location of an object and pick it up and come home.

Continued next page

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Chapter Overview Continued

Chapter: Engineering - Semester

1. Safety Unit/Engineering Chapter
a. Safety - The safety reference guides and tests are to be used at the beginning of the
semester to establish a safe work environment. The safety resources include the fol-
lowing handouts:
• Safety is an Attitude
• Safety (from the Inventor’s Guide)
• General Lab Safety
• Electrical Safety
• Power Tool Safety
• The Safety Checklist

b. Safety Tests - It is important to administer a safety test to establish the importance of

safety in your classroom. The safety resource unit includes the following safety tests:
• Safety Aptitude Test
• General Safety Test
• Safety Quiz
• Robotics Lab Inspection Sheet

2. VEX Hardware Guides

a. Motors and Building Materials - This section includes great resources to teach new
builders about Structural systems and how to build with VEX hardware. The resources
include the following handouts:
• Motion - a 26 page guide that shows how VEX motion systems are designed. This
guide uses a large amount of pictures that show how parts connect.
• Structure - a 17 page guide that shows new builders how parts go together and
important considerations about weight distribution and balance.
• Motor Handouts - VEX has multiple motor types, these handouts describe the
technical use and capability of the various motors.
b. Sensors and Displays - This section includes technical guides for the following VEX
hardware:
• Shaft Encoders
• Potentiometers
• Ultrasonic Rangfinder
• Light Sensors
• VEX LCD
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Chapter Overview Continued

3. Engineering Process Unit/Engineering Chapter - Ongoing
a. Engineering Process - This lesson is a foundational lesson designed to help students
to think about engineering process generally. This lesson includes an instructional
video and key handouts that describe process that students will use throughout the
course.
The Engineering Process video at the
left uses a combination of levity and
graphics to teach students about how
to solve and engineering challenge.

Keeping and Engineering Journal is a

guide for students on what they should
keep in the journal.

.
b. Project Planning - In this instructional video students learn the importance of project
planning. The handouts provide insight on how to build a team, plan time, organize
ideas, record project progress, and prepare for a competition.

Continued next page

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Chapter Overview Continued

3. Engineering Process Unit/Engineering Chapter Continued

c. Engineering Automated Workcell - There are many engineering projects that your stu-
dents can solve using VEX Robotics parts. This video shows an automated workcell
made out of VEX robot parts.
4. Competition Programming
a. Competition Programming Part 1 and Part 2 - Robot Competitions have strict rules
about how programs should be written to compete in the competition. This lesson
includes two instructional videos, RBC files, Check Your Understanding questions, and
a step by step guide.

•
•

b. The VEXnet Competition Switch - When you get to the competition, you will be using
a VEXnet Competition Switch, not all schools have one. This instructional video and
Check Your Understanding questions are designed to prepare you to use the VEXnet
competition switch.
c. The Programming Hardware Kit - This lesson will show you how you can test your
competition program using the Programming Hardware kit.
5. Rubrics
a. Assessment rubrics are common tools used for project based courses. These
rubrics may not fit everything that you are doing in your classroom, but can
be used as a guide to develop your own rubrics, or can be used as they are.

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Navigating the Curriculum

The curriculum is divided into two sections: “Getting Started” and “Programming and Engineering.”

The Fundamentals and Setup The Programming and Engineering Lessons

chapters provide resources that will be are found in the Movement, Remote Control,
helpful to new VEX/ROBOTC students. Sensing, and Engineering sections.

Fundamentals/Introduction to Programming

The Fundamentals Unit is divided into two Lesson Sets: Introduction to Programming and Natural Language Programming

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Fundamentals/Introduction to Programming
The Programmer and the Machine
The “Programmer and Machine” video
explains to students the role of the programmer
and the machine, and how the programmer
must learn to think like a machine in order to
program robots. The video is are designed to
explain programming concepts to beginners.

Each page video includes a set of “check your

understanding” questions that cover the main
topics covered in the video.

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Fundamentals/Introduction to Programming
The Planning and Behaviors Video
The Planning and Behaviors introductory
video explains behavior based program-
ming to students. The lesson also includes:
check your understandings questions, three
handouts, and two additional videos which
are shown below.

Behaviors and Flowcharts & Pseudocode

Helper Pages - These are reference PDFs that
students can use as study guides. The helper
pages are designed to be guides to the topics.

How Do Robots Think and Iterative Design

- These two new videos are designed to help
students understand how to break their programs
into simple logic and behaviors.

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Fundamentals/Introduction to Programming
The ROBOTC Rules Part One includes:
The introductory video, check your under-
standing questions, and the two Whitespace
and Reserved Words handouts shown below.

Whitespace and Reserved Words Helper

Pages - These are reference PDFs that
students can use for reference or as
study guides.

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Fundamentals/Introduction to Programming
The ROBOTC Rules Part Two includes:
The introductory video, check your under-
standing questions, and the three handouts
shown below.

Comments, ROBOTC Error Messages,

and ROBOTC Rules - These handouts
are designed to complement the ROBOTC
Rules programming videos above.

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Fundamentals/Natural Language Programming

What is Natural Language?

Natural Language provides an intuitive, easy to use, English language version of ROBOTC. Natural Language is for
beginner programmers and is designed as a stepping stone to full ROBOTC programming The Natural Language Library
is filled with commands that are both easy to use and easy to remember. Natural Language commands encompass entire
robot behaviors into a single command. The documents provided with the curriculum were current with the date the
curriculum was developed. If you are looking for the latest features of ROBOTC’s Natural Language consult the ROBOTC
Wiki at: http://www.robotc.net/wiki/VEX2_Natural_Language.
VEX PIC and VEX Cortex Natural
Language reference guides. These
two PDFs contain examples of the
code and explanations of how the
code works.

Note: Natural Language is a good

choice if you have a very short
amount of time to dedicate to teaching
programming. BUT, when students
begin to write complex programs
Natural Language has limitations. If
you are teaching a semester or a full
year course it is recommended that
you begin by teaching traditional
ROBOTC.

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Fundamentals/Natural Language Programming (NL) - Additional handouts

that explain ROBOTC NL programming. The handouts can be used a study guides or quick reference sheets. They are
available online at www.ROBOTC.net under VEX Curriculum so that they can be used for homework.

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Fundamentals/Natural Language Programming - Additional handouts that

explain ROBOTC NL programming. The handouts can be used a study guides or quick reference sheets. They are
available online so that they can be used for homework.

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Fundamentals/Natural Language Programming - Additional handouts that

explain ROBOTC NL programming. The handouts can be used a study guides or quick reference sheets. They are
available online so that they can be used for homework.

Natural Language Introductory Video -The

Video at the left and all of the handouts are
posted for free at: www.robotc.net/NaturalLan-
guage/

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VEX Cortex Setup

Setup - In order to begin programming, you
will need to build a robot, use ROBOTC to
update the firmware on the VEX Cortex and
VEXnet Joystick, and then make sure that it
works by downloading and running a sample
program. The SETUP section guides a user
step-by-step through this process. This section
is divided into three sections: Build, System
Configuration, and Download Sample.

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Setup/Build

Note: the Clawbot with Sensors build on the next page is the recommended build
for schools that purchased Clawbot kits.

Robot Building instructions come in PDF format allowing you to either print them or use them directly from the screen.
Additional instructions and updates will always live on the VEX Building Link at the Robotics Academy website.

RECBOT is the robot used most Squarebot 4.0 is an excellent Swervebot is a significantly
in the curriculum. It can be built alternative to the RECBOT, and smaller robot model that
out of the VEX Protobot kits with takes up a little less space. It requires significant cutting to
plus sensor kits. requires very little adjustment the VEX metal to create. It’s
to make it work with the videos, smaller form factor make it
and is also buildable using ideal for storage and for robot
Protobot kits plus sensor kits. applications that require sharp
turns such as line following.

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Additional Building Instructions for VEX Robots

Choosing a robot model is a big
choice because you may not have
the time to have kids build robots
multiple times during the year.

Read all of the notes below each set

of plans before you begin.

All of the Robot Plans plans are

available via the VEX Robotics link at
the Robotics Academy website.

www.vexteacher.com

The Clawbot instructions are the

best choice if you have the VEX
Clawbot kits. Some adaptation
will be needed on your part
to account for the differences
between it and the other builds,
such as which motors are used
to move the robot forward.

The Test Bed works well with Tumbler and Protobot are
Natural Language programming, excellent robots but are not
and allows the system to recommended for use with the
be learned in a controlled curriculum.
environment.
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Setup/Wireless System Configuration

Instructions for Wireless Programming

Updating the Cortex Firmware Video - Teaches students about the VEX Master firmware and the ROBOTC user firmware.
The video teaches students how to download the latest firmware and software before they begin programming their robots.

Updating the VEX Joystick Firmware Video - Guides students step-by-step as they update the VEXnet Joystick firmware.

Establishing a VEXnet Link, VEXnet Joystick Calibration, and VEX Programming Drivers Reference Guides - Step-by-
step instructions that guide students through the VEXnet setup and configuration process.

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Setup/Wired System Configuration

Instructions for Wired System Configuration

Updating the Cortex Firmware Video - Teaches students about the VEX
Master firmware and the ROBOTC user firmware. The video teaches
students how to download the latest firmware and software before they
begin programming their robots.

VEX Programming Drivers Reference Guides - Step-by-step instructions

that guide students through the VEXnet setup and configuration process.

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Setup/Downloading Sample Program

Instructions for Wireless Programming

Downloading a Sample Program over VEXnet Videos - Guides students step-by-step through the process of down-
loading a ROBOTC program. The first video tells them how to setup their hardware. The second video shows them how
to powerup their VEX Cortex and VEXnet Joystick, confirm their settings, and then download their program. Once this
process is complete the Cortex remembers all of the settings and so setup only need to be done once.

USB to Serial Driver Installation and Downloading a Sample Program over USB Reference Guides - Step-by-step
instructions that guide students through installing drivers.

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ROBOTC Has over 250 Working Sample Programs

Often it is easier for new programmers to get a feel for programming by editing working programs. To access
ROBOTC’s extensive library of examples select “File” and then “Open Sample Program”. Each folder contains examples
of working code that can be loaded onto a student’s robot and tested. Note: the code in those sample programs was
written for a specific robot and adjustments may need to be made in ROBOTC’s Motors and Sensors Setup.

1. Select “File”
2. Select “Open Sample
Program”
3. Navigate to the folder that
you want to open

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ROBOTC Has over 250 Working Sample Programs

Pictured below are the types of programs that a student will find. The programs range from Basic Movement using
standard ROBOTC to Basic Movement using ROBOTC’s Natural Language Library to using the VEX Gyro Sensor
and everything in between. Note: when programming using Natural Language Commands, Natural Language must be
selected under Robot>Platform Type.

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Setup/Virtual Robot Configuration

This lesson set includes three instructional videos designed to

help the new user to program using Robot Virtual Worlds.

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Robot Virtual World Software - the Curriculum Companion

Teaching Programming via
Robot Virtual Worlds (RVW)
The Curriculum Companion is
designed to mirror the VEX Cortex
Video Trainer using ROBOTC. The
RVW software includes over 40
programming challenges that are
found in the VEX Cortex Video
Trainer Curriculum.

Throughout the Introduction to

Programming section you will find
icons that show which challenges are
included.

Additionally, students can pick from

five robot configurations to choose to
program, they are shown at the left
of this page; VEX Squarebot, VEX
Clawbot, VEX Swervebot, BuggyBot,
and Mammal Bot.

Additional VEX Robotics Virtual Worlds

A ROBOTC RVW License gives you access to the Curriculum Companion, PLUS all of the RVWs below.

The current VEX Robotics The Level Builder and Model Importer allow student to build their
Engineering Challenge. Students own levels and import their own models into their new worlds. RVW
can begin developing code and is compatible with any modeling software that can generate a .STL
strategies before they build their file, including Autodesk, SolidWorks, and Google Sketchup.
robots

The Palm Island, Operation Reset, and Atlantis Robot-To-The-Rescue programming games take kids to yet to
be discovered worlds where their robots need to be programmed to solve challenges!

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Virtual Robot Competitions

Each year, VEX robot competitions are modeled and available for use in your class.
Pictured below are prior year example competitions.

Host your own in school virtual

competition! All of these games
are available at the Robot Virtual
World website.

Pictured above is Nothing But

Net, the VEX 2015 Game

Pictured at the right is Skyrise,

the VEX 2014 Game

Pictured at the right is Toss UP,

the VEX 2013 Game

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Guided Programming and Engineering Challenges

The Guided Programming and Engineering Lessons are designed to be “learner centered”.

Students work through the lessons in a step-by-step fashion. The first three units: Movement, Remote
Control, and Sensing contain Lesson Sets teach a particular programming concept and include
several programming and engineering challenges (see below). The last lesson set is “Engineering”,
This section includes resources that students will use as they solve their engineering design challenges.

Engineering Investigations and Programming Challenges

At the bottom of many of the lessons students will

find programming challenges and engineering
investigations. The Basketball Drills picture shows
the icon that indicates a programming challenge, the
Power Levels with Encoders icon represents and
Engineering Investigation.

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The Movement Unit

The Movement Unit

The Movement Unit is taught using four Lesson Sets and a programming challenge. The Lesson Sets
begin using sample code that is already included in ROBOTC. The first Lesson Set, Moving Forward, teaches
students in a very lockstep manner what each line of code does while introducing them to moving motors
for specific amounts of time. The second Lesson Set, Speed and Direction, explains motor power levels
and how to reverse polarity. The second Lesson Set includes an “engineering lab” that the students will
complete. The engineering labs place students in the role of engineer where they run their robots, measure
results, iteratively test the results to determine reliability, and then extrapolate from their data set to predict
new robot behaviors. The third Lesson Set, Shaft Encoders, begins to introduce students to Boolean Logic
and While Loops. Automated Straightening introduces students to if-else Statements and Variables and
teaches them to develop their own automated straightening algorithm. The Integrated Encoders lesson
teaches how to use the Integrated Motor Encoders.

The Movement Unit also includes fourteen programming challenges where students are challenged to solve
simple movement programming challenges. Although some of the challenges appear to be repetitive, the
extra challenges enable the teacher to differentiate instruction, it will be up to the teacher to decide which
students do which challenges. The extra challenges give the teacher to differentiate the instruction based on
student’s ability.

Note: It will be important to remind students that although the initial work may seam easy, that the skills that
they learn in the movement unit are foundational pieces that they must understand before they move to the
Remote Control and Sensing Units.

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Movement/Challenge Description

Each of the large units, Movement; Remote Control, and Sensing, has a unit
programming challenge that students will be guided step-by-step toward a solution.

Labyrinth Programming Challenge

Each Programming Unit (Movement, Remote Control, Sensing, and Resources) contains a Unit Programming challenge
that is designed to place the learning into an interesting context. In the “Movement” Lesson Set the programming challenge
is the “Labyrinth Challenge”.
In this challenge, students will learn:
• Behavior based programming logic
• How to program their robots to
accurately move forward,
backward and turn
• The syntax rules related to
programming using ROBOTC
Labyrinth Challenge
Teacher Resources
The Movement Unit programming
challenge comes with a PDF that
explains the rules to the challenge,
an example video solution.

The Labyrinth Challenge is also

available in a Robot Virtual World
simulation format.

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Movement/Moving Forward

The Moving Forward Lesson Set

Each Lesson Set is designed to teach a related set of programming concepts and is designed to give students confidence
opening a program and understanding what the individual lines of code mean. Every set is supported with a combination
of video and print resources:

Program Dissection Video - Students are given a line by line description of the code used in the first sample program.
Reversing Polarity Video - This video shows students how to make their robot change directions and turn.

Renaming Motors Video - ROBOTC provides a very handy utility that allows the programmer to rename their motors
using names that make sense to them (i.e. leftMotorArm, or RightWheel). This video shows how it works.

The Moving Forward Lesson Set is continued on the next page.

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Movement/Moving Forward (continued)

The Moving Forward Lesson Set

Moving Forward Timing Video - Timing is the least accurate way to control
a robot, but it is also the simplest method.

Wait States Engineering Investigation - This PDF contains an Engineering

Investigation that requires students to take an initial measurement and then
to make predictions of how far their robot will travel based on changing the
amount of time the robot is set to run.

SumoBot Challenge- At this point in a student’s programming career all

they can do is move forward. This is a nice engineering challenge that allows
students to focus on weight distribution, traction, and design.

Robot Virtual World Simulations

Wait States Engineering Investigation - Students are required to run their
robots, take measurements, and then predict and record their measurements
for their next run.

Ths SumoBot Challenge - Enables students to simulate the programming

challenge.

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Movement/Speed and Direction

The Speed and Direction Lesson Set

In this lesson set students continue to build confidence in their ability to program simple movements. The lesson set
consists of three videos, three Engineering Challenges, and two Programming Challenges.

Motor Power Lesson

The Motor Power Level Video -
teaches students how to change the
power level on the robot. Students
learn that as they change the power
level, they are in effect changing the
robot’s speed. They will also
complete an Engineering Lab named
“Power Level Investigation”. In this
investigation, students program their
robots at a variety of power levels
and keep the amount of time the
robot runs constant. In the investigation
students will investigate if there is a
proportional relationship between
power levels and speed.

The Power Level Investigation is also

available as a Robot Virtual World
Simulation.

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Movement/Speed and Direction (continued)

Speed and Direction

Turn and Reverse Video - teaches
students how changing motor polarity
enables the robot to turn and change
direction.
Manual Straightening Video -
Challenges the student to use
power levels to control the robot to go
straight (students will learn a better
method soon).
Programming Challenge PDFs
- The Power Level Investigation,
Driving Straight Challenge, and Sentry
Simulation provide students with
opportunities to practice programming
and learn about the VEX robot system.

Robot Virtual World Simulations

Motor Power Levels, Sentry Simulation, Turning, and the Driving Straight
challenges are available via the ROBOTC RVW simulation software.

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Movement/Shaft Encoders

Shaft Encoders Lesson Set

Shaft encoders allow you to accurately control the distance your robot travels. Since the release of this curriculum VEX
Robotics released smart motors where the encoder is built into the motor. You can find information about the Integrated
Motor Encoders: http://www.robotc.net/wiki/Tutorials/Programming_with_the_new_VEX_Integrated_Encoder_Modules

The Shaft Encoder Video - This video teaches students how shaft encoders work and how they are used to control
distance.

The Motor and Sensors Setup, Forward for Distance 1 Video - This video teaches students how to configure the shaft
encoders using the Motors and Setup wizard.

The Encoder, Forward for Distance 2 Video - This video teaches students why clearing the values in the encoder is
important and introduces them to how “While Loops” work.

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Movement/Shaft Encoders (continued)

Boolean Logic Part 1 & Part 2 Videos - Boolean Logic enables robots to make decisions. The first video teaches stu-
dents how conditional statements work. The second teaches them about logical operators. There is also a Boolean Logic
3 page PDF that complements the videos.

Boolean Logic PDF - Covers the same topics as the Boolean

Logic videos, but in a print format.

Shaft Encoders PDF - Teaches students how shaft encoders work.

The While Loop Handout - Shows students the code that controls
a while loop.

Additional Shaft Encoder Lesson Resources

The Sensor Debug Window Video - ROBOTC’s debug window is one of its most powerful tools. This video introduces
students to how they can see all of the robot’s input and output values.

Shaft Encoders, Forward and Turning Video- Teaches students how to use encoders in path planning.

The BasketBall Challenge - A programming challenge designed to give student’s practice with the shaft encoders.

The Power Level and Turning with Encoder’s Engineering

Investigations - students use feedback from the “Debug” window
to gather data to complete these two Engineering Investigations.

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Movement/Shaft Encoders (continued)

Basketball Drills, Power Levels with Encoders, and Turning with Encoders are available as RVW Challenges.

Movement/Automated Straightening

The Automated Straightening Lesson Set

This lesson set continues to introduce students to programming concepts like if-else statements, variable types, and
global variables. Students will get more practice using Boolean Logic as they create their own self-straightening algorithm.

Automated Straightening Part 1 Video - This video teaches students will learn how to use feedback from encoders and
conditional statements to develop an algorithm that allows the robot to self-correct its forward movements.

Automated Straightening Part 2 Video - This video teaches students how to implement the automated straightening
algorithm on their robot.

if-else Statement Handout - This handout can be used as a study guide that shows students how the if-else Statement
can be used with a while loop to help a robot make a decision.
Movement/Automated Straightening resources continued next page.

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Movement/The Automated Straightening (continued)

The Driving Straight Programming Challenge - This challenge requires

students to write a program that controls their robot to go perfectly straight.
The challenge is also available using the RVW simulation software.

Seeing the Difference Challenge - This challenge requires students to use

feedback from ROBOTC’s real time debugger to track the robot’s wheel
movement.

Boolean Logic Part 1 & Part 2 Videos - Boolean Logic enables robots to
make decisions. The first video teaches students how conditional statements
work. The second teaches them about logical operators. There is also a
Boolean Logic 3 page PDF that complements the videos.

Variables and Values

Variables and Values Video Part 1 - This video introduces students to the
power of variables. This lesson teaches students about how to specify
variables and variable types..

Variables and Values Video Part 2 - This teaches students about variable
names and types, how to initialize a variable, and how to use variables in their
program.

Variable and Global Variables Reference Guide - This PDF can be used as
a study guide and covers everything taught in the two variable videos.

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Integrated Encoders

The Integrated Encoders Lesson Set

This lesson set contains four videos designed to introduce students to the Integrated Motor Encoders and PID.

Forward for Distance IME Video - This video teaches students will learn how to use feedback from encoders and condi-
tional statements to develop an algorithm that allows the robot to self-correct its forward movements.

Principles of PID Video - This video teaches students how PID enabled robots can automate the ability to track how far
each motor spins and make automated adjustments as the robot moves.

Forward for Distance PID Video - This video shows how to setup your motors programmatically to use PID and how to
observe the values of the motors using the debug window.

Forward for Target Distance PID Video - This video teaches how to use the moveMotorTarget and getMotorEncoder
commands eliminating the robot drifting past the target location.
Integrated Encoder resources continued next page.

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Integrated Encoders (continued)

The VEX Cortex Integrated Motor Encoders need to be installed. This lesson set
includes a step-by-step set of instructions that you will need to install your IMEs.

Note: Any time a

student needs to
run code in the
virtual world to
follow along with a
video, they can use
the Utility tables
(huge table, metric
or imperial distance
table, turn table).

Now that you know how to use IMEs these lessons are designed to provide practice.

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Remote Control/Challenge Description

Note: Pictured at the right is the culminating challenge

for the Remote Control Unit. Begin the unit by showing
students the Minefield RC challenge. Students are not
expected to know how to solve the challenge until they
complete the Joystick Mapping, Timers, and Buttons
Lessons.

Using Operator Input to Control Your Robot/The Minefield Challenge

A powerful feature of the VEX Cortex is its ability to be driven using the VEXnet Remote Control. This ability proves to be
indispensable in the competition environment. In this unit you will learn how to optimize and program your VEX remote
control. You will learn to program buttons on the Joystick controller to enable robot behaviors.

The Minefield Challenge Resources - Remote Control Video Solution, Minefield

Challenge PDF that describes the rules, and a Robot Virtual World simulation
environment that allows students to develop and test code.

Note: the VEXnet Joystick does not communicate its values to the PC,
only to a VEX Cortex, so it cannot be used to control the Virtual Robot.
A USB Logitech Joystick is recommended for use with the virtual worlds.
There are resources at the ROBOTC Wiki for using any USB joystick and
also directly in ROBOTC’s Help Documentation.

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Remote Control/Joystick Mapping

Introduction to Remote Control Video - Students will learn how the VEXnet Remote Control works and be able to
describe the range of values that the joystick provides. Additionally, they will learn which ROBOTC commands allow them
to access the Remote Control.

Real Time Control Video - Students will learn how loops work and the difference between and infinite loop and a loop
controlled by a conditional statement, they will also learn new ROBOTC reserved words that allow them to control the
different remote controller channels.

VEXnet Joystick Calibration Guide - Initially, calibrating the Joystick may appear
complicated to students. This is a four page guide with lots of pictures that takes
them step-by-step through Joystick calibration.

Joystick Mapping Resources are continued on the next page.

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Remote Control/Joystick Mapping (continued)

While Loops PDF - A simple example that shows how While Loops work.

Boolean Logic Part 1 & Part 2 Videos - The Boolean Logic videos are included in multiple lessons and are intended for
review. These videos teach foundational principles that all programmers need to know.
The first video teaches students how conditional statements work. The second teaches
them about logical operators. There is also a Boolean Logic 3 page PDF that
complements the videos.

Mapping Values Videos Part 1 & 2 - These videos teach students how to map motor ports to the VEX joystick. By the
end of the videos students will be able to change the motor speeds assigned by the remote control and will be able to
optimize the joystick values to suit their needs.

Race to the Finish and Robo-Slalom Challenges - These are two relatively simple challenges that students will have
fun with. They are designed to give the student practice optimizing the value and configuration of the VEX joystick.

ROBOTC Sample Programs - ROBOTC contains three sample programs in

the Remote Control Folder, 2 Joystick Drive with Thresholds, 2 Joystick Drive,
and Top Hat Drive. Students are encouraged to begin by opening the sample
programs and modifying them.

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Remote Control/Timers

Time and Timers Video - In this video students will learn the difference
between using the Wait1Msec command and using Timers to control
behaviors, they will also learn how many Timers are available, how to reset
Timers, and how to access the value of a timer programmatically.

The Using Timers Video - This video teaches students how to use
the reserved words built into ROBOTC to control timers.

The Timers PDF Reference Guide - is a one page handout that can
be used as a study guide for using Timers.

The Round-Up and Bull-In-The-Ring Challenges - Designed to give

students the opportunity to apply Timers. Both challenges are available as
Robot Virtual World Simulations.

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Remote Control/Buttons

Buttons provide a very powerful input enabling students to control their robot’s behaviors. This unit teaches students how
to develop code that uses feedback from the remote control’s buttons to control their robot’s movements.

The Remote Control Buttons Video - This video teaches students the numbering systems for buttons on the VEX remote
control. It also shows them how to access the value of a button, and the values that buttons send to the controller.

The Remote Start Video - This video teaches students how to develop competition ready code and how an idle loop can
be used to control the start of a program.

The Controlling the Arm Video Part 1 - This video introduces students to programming an arm for the Minefield Challenge,
how to use the Motors and Sensors Setup Wizard to rename motors, and how they can use an if statements to control the
up and down motion for the arm.

Controlling the Arm Video Part 2 - This video teaches students how the else branch can be used to complete their arm
control algorithm.

Controlling the Arm Video Part 3 - The final video shows students how to integrate a while loop and several if-else
statements to control the robot’s arm.

Additional Remote Control labs - The Remote Control Engineering Lab provides students with code and a set of activities
designed to take them step-by-step through a remote control lab. Robo-Dunk, RoboWriter, and Turn Buttons are additional
labs designed to provide a set of hands on activities to check a student’s understanding of programming buttons.

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Remote Control/Buttons (continued)

Introduction to Remote Control Buttons

Controlling the Arm - Broken into 3 videos due to the complexity and length of the topic.

Button Labs - Available in PDF format and as a Robot Virtual World programming challenge.

Note: the VEXnet Joystick does not communicate its values to the PC,
only to a VEX Cortex, so it cannot be used to control the Virtual Robot.
A USB Logitech Joystick is recommended for use with the virtual worlds.
There are resources at the ROBOTC Wiki for using any USB joystick and
also directly in ROBOTC’s Help Documentation.

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Sensing

Sensing/Additional Resources
Since the release of the VEX Cortex robot VEX Robotics has
added the Gyro, Accelerometer, and Integrated Motor Encod-
ers. There are four places that you can find help with new
sensors or ROBOTC features.

1. Sample programs - whenever ROBOTC adds

new sensor functionality you will find sample
programs that demonstrate how the sensor works.

2. ROBOTC Help Documentation- Developers

also document new features at the wiki.
http://www.robotc.net/wiki/VEX2_Sensors_Overview

3. The ROBOTC Blog - Developers like to show the

community what is new and blog about the new
features. http://www.robotc.net/blog/

4. The ROBOTC Forum - ROBOTC has an active

community that helps others with their code.
http://www.robotc.net/forums

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Sensing/The Grand Challenge

The Grand Challenge

This challenge is a teacher designed course that reinforces behavior-based programming and the engineering process.
The challenge course is teacher-designed course and not revealed to students until the day of the competition.
Before the competition, students are provided with a list of conditions and situations to prepare for (width of the robot’s
path, 30 degree ramps, line following, obstacle detection, etc). On the day of the competition, the student’s programming
knowledge and preparation are put to the test as they work to traverse the course in a limited amount of time. The robot
that makes the most progress without stalling out or deviating from the course wins!

Example Robot Behaviors/Functions - The list below are example behaviors and functions that students might use to
solve the Grand Challenge.

• Moving Straight using Encoders

• Accurately Move a Specific Distance
• Move Forward Until the Light Sensor Sees a Dark Line
• Program using Remote Control
• Precise Turning using Encoder Feedback
• Precise Turning using Gyro Sensor Feedback
• Programming Remote Controller Buttons to Precise Turning using Encoder or Gyro Sensor Feedback
• Obstacle Detection using Feedback from Sonar or Touch Sensors (autonomous)
• Track a Line
• Ability to Push Object
• Ability to Detect and Count Lines
• Ability to Display Characters to the LCD Remote Screen

Grand Challenge resources are found on the next page.

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Grand Challenge Problem Resources

Physical Robot Resources

The Grand Challenge Design Specification -

A PDF that describes the challenge.

Grand Challenge Example Solution Video -

This solution video is an example of a course.
The course that you use will be designed by
you and your students.

Robot Virtual World Resources

The Robot Virtual World Grand Challenge Design Specification - This world is designed
so that it can be solved many ways allowing the teacher to assign student challenges
based on ability. Below, at the left is a picture of the home screen for the RVW Grand
Challenge, it is found in the Utility Tables section, in the center is a screen shot of the
RVW, and at the right is the RVW Grand Challenge programming description PDF.

The Robot Virtual World Robotics Academy Grand Challenge Design Specification -
This world is also designed so that it can be solved many ways allowing the teacher to
assign student challenges based on ability. This world is a little easier than the RVW
Grand Challenge above. Below, at the left is a picture of the home screen for the RVW
Grand Challenge, it is found in the Utility Tables section, in the center is a screen shot
of the RVW, and at the right is the Robotics Academy RVW Grand Challenge program-
ming description PDF.

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Sensing/Limiting The Arm

Limiting the Arm Resources

The Limiting the Arm lesson set teaches students how to configure and integrate sensors into the lift-arm mechanism on
the robot. The Lesson Set has the following resources:

The Configuring Sensors Video - The video explains how to configure sensors using ROBOTC’s Motors and Sensors
Setup wizard and reviews the rules for naming sensors.

The Sensors Reference Guide PDF - A 12 page reference guide that describes the Analog and Digital ports found on
VEX Controllers and describes how touch sensors work.

Servo Motors Reference Guide PDF - A 2 page reference guide that shows students how to control servo motors.

Limiting the Arm Part 1 Video - This video explains how the touch sensor works as a limit switch to control how far the
motor can move. Students will also learn how to apply the AND Logical Operator in their conditional statement enabling
them to check two conditions at the same time.

if-else Statement Reference Guide PDF - Provides students with a review of how the if-else Statement works.

Switch Cases Reference Guide PDF - Provides students with working code that shows how a Switch Case works.

Limiting the Arm Part 2 Video - This video teaches about potentiometers and how they work. Students will learn how to
integrate the potentiometer into the mechanical arm mechanism using ROBOTC’s debug window.

Potentiometer Reference Guides - The reference guides are designed to be used as study guides or teaching tools and
explain how the sensor works.
Lifting the Arm resources are continued on the next page.

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Sensing/Limiting the Arm Resources (continued)

Instructional Videos

PDF Reference Guides

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Sensing/Limiting the Arm Resources (continued)

Physical Robot Programming Challenges

Robot Virtual World Programming Challenges

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Sensing/Behaviors and Functions

This lesson set will teach students to build their own behaviors by creating functions. They will also learn to pass
parameters that make their functions more portable.

The Behaviors and Functions Part 1 Video - This video introduces students to the power of functions enabling them to
make their programs shorter and easier to read.

The Behaviors and Functions Part 2 Video - In this lesson students will learn to transform their code into functions.
They will learn how to declare a function and what a parameter is.

The Shaft Encoders Reference Guide - This PDF explains how Shaft Encoders work.

VEX Integrated Encoders Module - Video lessons, challenges, and helper pages.

Optimizing Code and Incorporating Functions Challenges - Two challenges that give students the chance to revisit
old code that they wrote and make the code easier to read by incorporating functions into their code.

Passing Parameters Part 1 Video - In this video students learn how to pass parameters allowing them to write more
powerful functions, they will also learn the rules to naming and specifying parameters.

Passing Parameters Part 2 Video - In this lesson students learn how to implement the parameter including the type of
data the parameter will pass and the name of the parameter.

Function Challenges - The Real World Values, RoboDunk2, Seeing the Difference, and Robot Acceleration Program-
ming Challenge enable students to revisit code that they’ve previously written and optimize it by incorporating functions
and parameters.
Additional resources for the Sensing/Behaviors and Functions lesson set can be found on the next page.

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Sensing/Behaviors and Functions Resources (Continued)

Instructional Videos

PDF Reference Guides

Commented Integrated Encoder sample programs

are found in the current ROBOTC Software build.

Additional resources are available on the next page.

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Sensing/Behaviors and Functions Resources (Continued)

Physical Robot Programming Challenges

Robot Virtual World Programming Challenges

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Sensing/Forward Until Near

This lesson set will teach students how to program the VEX Ultrasonic Rangefinder Sensor

The Ultrasonic Rangefinder Video - This video teaches students about the Ultrasonic Rangefinder.

The Ultrasonic Rangefinder Reference Guide - This guide explains how the Ultrasonic Rangefinder works.

The Forward Until Near Video - Shows students how the code for the Forward Until Near behavior works with the ultra-
sonic rangefinder including: using the Motors and Sensors wizard, the while loop, and the related code.

The Thresholds Reference Guide - A reference guide that explains what a threshold value is.

The Straight Until Near Video - This lesson combines the Forward Until Near behavior with the Automated Straightening
behavior. They will also review how encoders work and why you need to clear them before use.

The Straight Until Near Fine Tuning Video - In this lesson the student will optimize their program using the debugging
window so that it moves to the object and stops when it hits the object.

Forward Until Near Programming Challenges - This lesson set contains four increasingly difficult programming chal-
lenges that use the Ultrasonic Rangefinder: Sentry Simulation Two, The Speed of Sound, Sentry Simulation Level Three,
and the Sonic Scanner programming challenges.

Robot Virtual World Programming Challenges - The RVW simulation software has the Sentry Simulation Level Two,
Sentry Simulation Level Three, Speed of Sound, and the Sonic Scanner programming challenges in simulation.
Additional resources for the Sensing/Behaviors and Functions lesson set can be found on the next page.

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Sensing/Forward Until Near (continued)

Instructional Videos

PDF Reference Guides

Additional resources are available on the next page.

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Sensing/Forward Until Near (continued)

Physical Robot Programming Challenges

Robot Virtual World Programming Challenges

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Sensing/Line Tracking

This lesson set will teach students how to program the VEX Line Tracking Kit.

The Line Tracker Sensor Video - This video teaches students about the Line Tracker Sensor.

The SwerveBot Building Instructions - The Swervebot tracks lines well and can be used for this challenge.

The Line Follower Kit Reference Guide- This PDF shows students how the light sensor kit works including the values
the light sensor sees and the ports that it connects to.

The Line Tracking Calculating Thresholds Video - This video teaches students how to use ROBOTC’s debugger to
calculate threshold values for the light sensor.

The Thresholds Reference Guide - This reference guide explains what a threshold value is and how to calculate it.

The Variables Reference Guide - This reference guide explains what variables are and how to use them.

The Basic Line Tracking Video - This video teaches students how to build a line tracking behavior.

Line Tracking for Distance Video - This video teaches students how to use a combination of encoder values and the
Line Track kit to track a line for a specific distance.

The Optimized Line Tracking Video - Line tracking can be slow, this video shows how you can modify the motor powers
to significantly increase the speed your robot tracks a line.

Programming Challenges - This unit has the Forward Until Dark, TableBot, Robo500, Robo Slalom Level 2, Minefield
Traversal and Robo Slalom Level three programming challenges to give students practice programming.

Additional resources for the Line Tracking lesson set can be found on the next page.

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Sensing/Line Tracking (continued)

Instructional Videos

PDF Reference Guides

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Sensing/Line Tracking (continued)

Physical Robot Programming Challenges

Robot Virtual World Programming Challenges

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Sensing/Turn for Angle

This lesson set will teach students how to program the VEX Gyro Sensor

The Gyro Sensor Video - This video introduces the student to how the Gyro Sensor works.

Sensing Turn for Angle Part 1 - Part one of a video set that teaches how to reset and program the gyro sensor to work
with your VEX robot.

Sensing Turn for Angle Part 2 - Part two of a video set that teaches how to reset and program the gyro sensor.

The ROBOT 500 Challenge PDF and RVW - This challenge comes in both a physical and virtual version.

The Minefield Challenge PDF and RVW - This challenge comes in both a physical and virtual version.

Additional resources for the Sensing Turn for Angle lesson set can be found on the next page.

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Sensing/Turn for Angle (continued)

Instructional Videos

Physical Robot Programming Challenges

Virtual Robot Programming Challenges

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Sensing/Using the LCD

This lesson set will teach students how to program the VEX LED Screen

The VEX LCD Video - This video introduces the many features of the LCD screen.

Displaying Sensor Values on the VEX LCD Video - This video teachers the student how to display continually
changing values to the LCD.

Continually Updating the VEX LCD Video - This video teachers the student how to display continually
changing values to the LCD.

The LCD Display Handout PDF - This handout was produced by Innovation First and explains how to connect the LCD
to the VEX controller

Additional resources for the Using the LCD lesson set can be found on the next page.

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Sensing/The LCD Display (continued)

Instructional Videos

LCD Handout

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Engineering

Engineering
The Engineering section is broken into 5 sections and includes lots of handouts, instructional videos, and rubrics for
assessment.

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Engineering/Safety

Safety
Any course that involves moving parts, handling and processing materials and students requires safety training. Safety
begins with the development of a safe attitude. Most accidents can be avoided if a student develops a safe and
conscientious attitude. The safety lesson begins by challenging a student’s general beliefs about safety and concludes
with a safety inspection of the robotics lab.
Safety is an Attitude - A one page handout that defines what safety is and what
safety is not, and concludes with statements that support the fact that most
accidents are preventable with the development of a safe attitude.

General Lab Safety - A four page handout that spells out general safety rules,
describes features of a safe classroom, safe storage, material handling, disposal
of materials, tools and equipment, and ends with a list of definitions of terms that
students may not know.
Safety Checklist - A three page handout that contains a safety checklist, rules to
consider when you are moving things around the lab, and a one page
safety poster.

Electrical Safety - A two page handout that describes safety rules when working
with electricity and common causes of electrical accidents, including defective
equipment, unsafe practices, and lack of electrical knowledge.

Power Tool Safety - A one page handout that sets rules and expectations for
when students use power tools in the robotics lab.
Safety continued next page.

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Engineering/Safety continued
Handouts

Safety Tests and Answers - Three

different safety quizzes designed to
check students’ understanding of the
importance of safety.

Robotics Lab Safety Inspection

Sheet - Helps students to
understand that they need to monitor
the robotics classroom for safety.

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Engineering/VEX Hardware

VEX Hardware

The VEX Cortex Robotics System consists of a micro controller, a set of sensors and motors, and lots of parts. The
documents on the next couple of pages contains valuable information about how the system works. These documents
are available online for free student access and can be used as reference documents or assigned as homework
study guides.

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Fundamentals/VEX Hardware (continued)

http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/products/teaching_robotc_cortex/index.html

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Engineering/VEX Hardware (continued)

Handouts

Engineering/Engineering Process

Many schools compete in robotic competitions; other schools are using the VEX Cortex and IQ systems to teach
engineering. The resources in the engineering section provide students with materials that teach how to manage and
solve engineering design problems.

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Engineering/Engineering Process continued

Engineering Process Resources

Engineering Process Video - Engineering Process Video - The five minute
Engineering Process Video highlights the importance of research, planning,
developing prototypes, and iterative testing when solving engineering design
problems.

Engineering Process Reference - This three page set of handouts describes

steps that engineers use to solve problems, provides a set of definitions for the
word “engineering”, and describes the iterative nature of design.

Understanding the Problem PDF - One of the keys to solving any problem is
“Understanding the Problem”. This three page set of handouts consists of: Defin-
ing the Problem, Technical Research, and Creating a Design Specification.

Brainstorming PDF - Another key problem-solving step involves meetings

where people brainstorm together to develop potential solutions. This three page
set of handouts is broken into: a Brainstorming Primer, Things to Think About,
and Brainstorming Tips. Each handout can be used individually or as part of a
set.

Design Reviews PDF - Engineers conduct design reviews on a regular basis.

This two page handout describes how to conduct weekly team design reviews,
as well as preliminary and detail design reviews.

Engineering Design Notebook - Each student is required to keep an engineer-

ing design notebook. This two page handout describes the what is kept in the
notebook and what a daily log is.

Engineering process resources continued next page.

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Engineering/Engineering Process continued

Handouts

Engineering/Project Planning

Proper planning is very important to solving any design problem - This section provides many resources designed
to help students learn to manage their time.
Project Planning resources can be found on the next page.

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Engineering/Project Planning continued

Project Planning Handouts and Resources

Project Planning Video - The five minute Project Planning Video uses a combination of humor and examples to describe
what a well planned project looks like.

Organizational Matrix Ideas PDF - This three page handout graphically shows three methods of organizing projects.

Recording Progress PDF - The recording progress tools offer the project manager three solutions that can be used to
help team members to document the team’s progress toward the project goals.

Gantt Chart PDF - A Gantt chart provides a graphical illustration of a schedule to help plan, coordinate, and track
specific tasks in a project. This one page handout is designed to teach students how Gantt charts work.

PERT Chart PDF - A PERT chart is a tool that graphically illustrates when parts of the project become due. The
advantage of the PERT chart is that it shows which things must be completed in sequence and which things need to be
completed simultaneously. This one page handout is designed to teach students how PERT charts work.

Preparing for a Competition PDF- Robotic competitions offer unique opportunities to teach students about time
management, resource allocation, teamwork, and problem solving, all within a context that they find challenging but fun.
The Preparing for a Competition handout is designed to support robotics teams as they plan for the competition.

Planning Your Time PDF - Time management is a crucial skill to develop. This four page handout uses a simple activity,
planning a birthday party, to describe a critical skill set that everyone should learn: how to manage time.

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Engineering/Assessment Rubrics

Assessment Rubrics
Timely assessment is paramount in today’s educational environment. A clear expectation of what is being assessed is a
key to training students. Traditional assessments are provided in the curriculum; ie quizzes. The assessments found in
this section are assessment rubrics for project-based learning. There are many other tools that a teacher may use, but
this section provides some examples. Rubrics allow all stakeholders to see what is being measured.

Writing Criteria Rubric - Writing is a process and good writing requires several steps: brainstorming, outlining,
pre-writing, and editing. This is a simple rubric that check for those steps.

Engineering Journal Rubric - Explains to students what is expected in their engineering journals.

Presentation Rubric - Helps students determine what a good presentation should include.

Request for Proposal Rubric - Helps students to determine what is being evaluated in their RFP submission.

Work Habit Evaluation - This is a great tool for students to use to develop strong work habits.

Workplace Competencies Rubric - This rubric helps students to develop the skills that are valued by industry.

Internal Design Rubric - This evaluation tool helps students understand the expectations and preparation needed for
an internal design review.

External Design Review - This evaluation tool helps students understand the expectations and preparation needed for
an external design review.

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Engineering/Assessment Rubrics continued

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Additional Resources at vexteacher.com

Teaching The Engineering Design Process

“The Engineering Design Process is the formulation of a plan to help

an engineer build a product with a specified performance goal.”

This process involves a number of steps, and parts of the process may need to be repeated many times
before production of a final product can begin. Engineering design teaches problem solving, brainstorming,
time and resource management, cooperation and collaboration, and the soft skills that today’s workforce
demands. Robotics and robotics competitions provide a high energy organizer to teach the Engineering
Design Process.

VEX Robotics Competitions - Each year the Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation hosts
an International VEX competition, in 2014 there were over 10,000 teams. The Competition is incredibly well
run and can provide a life-changing experience for students. The Robotics Academy is a strong supporter of
the formalized robotics competitions because they are well thought out, provide real deadlines, and provide
students with a high energy 21st century learning experience.

School-based Competitions - Many teachers use school based competitions. They setup classroom design
challenges; some of them are competitive and others are cooperative in nature. There are several examples
of possible school based cooperative design problems like The Rube Goldberg Challenge, and the Hot Dog
Maker and Automated Workcell examples included in this curriculum.

The next couple of pages introduce resources that are available to teach the Engineering Design Process.

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What is Engineering and Teaching the Engineering Design Process

Teaching engineering is an iterative process, just like engineering. Students are not going to learn
engineering process by attempting to solve one engineering problem. They need to engineer
solutions for many problems before they become good at it. There are multiple ways to introduce
engineering and 5th grade teachers are going to approach the topic much differently than high
school teachers. Start with small engineering projects that are a couple days in duration and
introduce new organization concepts like brainstorming and ideation, cooperation and collaboration,
Gantt and PERT Charts, and developing prototypes and Design Reviews as each project requires
them. Always have students keep an Engineering Design Journal for every project. Below are
some suggestions that others have used to introduce students to Engineering and Engineering
Design Process.
1. Ask the class to discuss the difference between Engineering and Engineering Design Process.
Help them to develop their own internal definition of what engineering is. Introduce students to
engineering by showing the Engineering Process Video found on page 10 and provide them with
the Definitions of Engineering PDF from page 12. Have them write a one-page paper describing
“what is engineering”.

2. Introduce students to what the engineering process looks like by providing them with the
Engineering Process PDF found on page 11.

3. Teach students to keep and Engineering Design Journal and require them to document their
project by keeping all notes, sketches, and code snippets. Have them keep all of their handouts
in their Engineering Design Notebook. There is a PDF describing the notebook on page 10.

4. Require students to work in teams. This is a very important skill for students to develop and it
takes practice. Begin by having them review and discuss the “First Team Meeting” handout
found on page 11.

5. Teach students how to brainstorm without offending each other. There is a handout on page 10
called “Brainstorming”. Give students ample opportunities to solve new problems regularly.

6. Require evidence of project planning and “Time Management” by having them develop PERT
and GANTT Charts for various projects. Pass the Gantt and PERT chart handouts found on page
12.

7. Discuss how to break a project into manageable parts, assigning deliverables, and self assigning
due dates. Have them watch the Project Planning Video on page 10.

8. Build prototypes and conduct design reviews. Use the design review handout on page 11.

9. Invite other adults to sit in on design reviews to review student solutions.

10. Require project documentation.

11. Iteratively test solutions and have students brainstorm how to improve them.

12. Give students the opportunity to present their solution

13. Debrief, talk about what worked, what didn’t work, and how to improve the process.
14. Give students other problems to solve - The students will improve each time they participate in
the engineering design process. The first project may be a disaster for some teams. The debrief
session is the most important part of the above process for new learners. Students need to
recognize that this process will be with them in some form for the rest of their lives and so it is
important that they become good at it.

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Planning Your Project: Technical Sketching

Sketching provides a quick way to share ideas; this module introduces students to technical sketching,
a fundamental tool of engineers. This section is not meant to replace a formal Engineering Design
CAD course, but to teach kids basic skills that enable them to share ideas. The resources are divided
into the following organizers and it will be up to the teacher to determine what is appropriate for their
students:
1. Introduction to Technical Sketching
2. Drawing Conventions/Dimensioning
3. Pattern Developments
4. Pictorial Sketching
5. Precision Measurement
6. Sketching Fasteners
The Lesson section consists of a variety of hands-on technical sketching exercises of a variety of parts.
It will depend on the teacher’s point of emphasis, but this section of the course could take anywhere
from two days to a week. Introduce students to sketching early, challenge them with a design
problem that involves building a working model. Have them plan their project before they build it. This
process involves sketches, dimensioning, and design reviews. Team members share ideas, and then
make improvements based on testing and feedback. Require students to keep all sketches in their
engineering design journal.
Introduction to Technical Sketching resources consists of a series of printable handouts that
demonstrate sketching technique, a set of handouts that explains sketching technique, and multiple
sketching exercises.
Drawing Conventions/Dimensioning consists of two printable handouts illustrating technical sketching
line conventions and general dimensioning rules and several parts to dimension.
Pattern Developments is a handout that introduces the topic of pattern development and provides
several examples of student-designed manipulators that use pattern developments.
Pictorial Sketching consists of a series of printable handouts that reinforces “crating technique” when
sketching pictorial drawings and a pictorial sketching handout.
Precision Measurement consists of a couple of VEX robot parts that need to be accurately
measured. The handouts are designed to give students practice measuring accurately, and a
handout on units of measurement.
Sketching Fasteners - fasteners are used on many robotics engineering projects. This set of
exercises give students the opportunity to both perfect their sketching technic and also learn the
names of the various fasteners.
Introduction to Technical Sketching

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Introduction to Technical Sketching Continued

Drawing Conventions/Dimensioning

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Pictorial Sketching

Precision Measurement Sketching Fasteners

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VEX Robotics Competitions

VEX Robotics Competitions - Type Robotics Competitions into a search engine and you will have millions
of hits. They are incredibly popular with over 30,000 US teams. The major advantages of competing in an
annual robotics competition are:
• The competition game is new each year so your students won’t get bored
• The rules are generally well thought out and developed by a team of experts
• There are hard deadlines that students need to meet.
• It is incredibly exciting for students to compete against other students from across the region and the
world.
• There are multiple events that your team can compete in.
• Taking your school to these types of events ads prestige to your program.

The REC Foundation - Each year the Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation hosts an
International VEX competition, in 2012 there were over 7,000 teams. The Competition is incredibly well run
and can provide a life-changing experience for students. There are competitions run in every state and in
most countries in the world. To learn more go here: http://www.roboticseducation.org/

BEST Robotics http://www.bestinc.org/ BEST stands for Boosting Engineering Science and Technology. It
hosts and annual competition each year and has about 1,000 teams. To learn more go here:
http://www.bestinc.org/documents/Competition%20Overview.pdf

VEX In-School Design Problems

On the next page you will find handouts that you can use to introduce these three challenges. The challenges
are described below and are designed to challenge students to develop innovative solutions using the
engineering design process.

Project Time Experience Other Focus/Coverage

Required Level Requirements
Rube 1 - week Introductory Focus: Engineering process,
Goldberg teamwork, communication, systems
concepts (input, output, subsystems,
state), design
Coverage: Non-Vex building of
stationary “cells” in a system that can
only perform their functions once, and
do not have electronic control
Hot Dog 3-5 weeks Recommended: Required: Focus: Engineering process,
Maker Students must know Programming kit, teamwork, communication,
how to program with various additional collaboration, systems concepts,
Challenge sensors sensors, hardware reliability
and tools Coverage: Inter-team collaborative
design and Vex building of
subsystems that must work together
reliably to accomplish a multi-step
process with dissimilar functions at
each step. Project management on
several levels is key to successfully
completing this activity.

Automated 4-5 weeks Required: Required: Focus: Engineering process,

Work Cell Students must know Programming kit, teamwork, communication,
how to program with various additional collaboration, systems concepts,
sensors sensors, hardware reliability
and tools Coverage: Inter-team collaborative
design and Vex building of
subsystems that must work together
reliably to accomplish a multi-step
process with dissimilar functions at
each step. Project management on
several levels is key to successfully
completing this activity.

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Notes on Projects:
1. Rube Goldberg Challenge – This challenge can be accomplished with or without VEX parts.
Our intention with this design problem is to get the kids engineering early and have them
develop an outside the box solution. We believe that the project can be done without VEX
parts using all recycled parts. The project can be done at home as a homework assignment
over the weekend and then brought to class. There are many examples of Rube Goldberg
Machines on the Internet. There is also a handout below which uses VEX parts.
2. The Hot Dog Maker & Automated Work Cell – The nature and themes of these projects can be
modified however the teacher sees fit (hot dog maker and work cell are just two ideas), and
should be designed to fit available resources. The idea behind the projects is to challenge the
students to develop an automated system that requires every group to be doing something
different, yet integral, to the final solution. The solution to the system is up to the students.

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Breaking Programs into Behaviors

What Are Behaviors?
A behavior is really anything your robot does: turning on a single motor is a behavior, moving
forward is a behavior, tracking a line is a behavior, navigating a maze is a behavior. There
are three main types of behaviors that we are concerned with: complex behaviors, simple
behaviors, and basic behaviors.
Complex Behaviors
These are behaviors at the highest levels, such as
navigating an entire maze. Though they may seem Complex Behavior:
complicated, one nice property of complex behav- Maze Navigation
iors is that they are always composed of smaller
behaviors. This means that if you observe a com-
plex behavior, you can always break it down into
smaller and smaller behaviors until you eventually
reach something you recognize.

Simple Behaviors
Simple behaviors are small, bite-size behaviors that Contains the Simple Behavior:
allow your robot to perform a simple, yet significant Move Forward until Touch Sensor is
task, like moving forward for a certain amount of Pushed
time. These are perhaps the most useful behav-
iors to think about, because they are big enough
that you can describe useful actions with them, but
small enough that you can program them easily
several lines of code.
Contains the Basic Behavior:
Turn on Left Motor in Forward Direction

The simple behavior directly above enables a

robot to move forward for two seconds.

Basic Behaviors
At the most basic level, everything in a program
must be broken down into tiny behaviors that your
robot can understand and perform directly. These
are behaviors the size of single lines of code, like
turning on a single motor, or checking a single
sensor port.

Basic behavior - turn on one motor.

Exercises
1. What level of behaviors can your robot perform directly?
2. Why is it useful to think about a robot’s actions in terms of behaviors?
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Sense Plan Act

How does a robot think?
One easy to understand how a robot thinks is Sense-Plan-Act. A robot must be able to Sense
its environment, Plan a course of action based on that data, and Act on that plan.

Sense
Using a variety of available sensors, the
robot gathers data from its surroundings.
Sensors include anything that provides the
robot with information on its environment,
such as the color sensor mounted on the
robot in the picture, which will provide
feedback about the color of the blocks in
front of it.

Plan
The robot will process the information
gathered in the Sense phase, and formulate
an appropriate plan of action to react to what
it saw. This step is most often performed by
software (like your ROBOTC software) that
has been loaded onto the robot in advance.
The program illustrated here tells the robot
to go forward until it sees a color.

Act
The robot acts in the world
through the use of actuators–
any component which allows
the robot to create a change
in its surroundings, such as
motors, which move the robot
through the environment. The
robot in the picture will drive
through the maze.

Answer the following questions

1. Define what a robot does.
2. Describe how your robot senses, plans, and acts to solve the challenge that you are
working on.

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Teaching Pseudocode and Flowcharts

Introduction
Pseudocode - is a native language description of what the robot is required to do. With prac-
tice pseudocode eventually resembles ROBOTC code.
Flowchart - is a graphical representation of program flow.

It is a very good practice to have students begin each programming task by breaking
the task into its smallest parts and develop pseudocode that describes the robot’s behaviors.
You will find much more detail on this practice in the Introduction to Pseudocode lesson.
Example pseudocode
The practice of developing pseudocode is informally intro-
duced on the first day of class when students are asked to write
a program to control a humanoid robot to make a sandwich. See
Introduction to Robot Programming for a full description of that activ-
ity. In that activity, students will not yet know a robot programming
language, but they can begin to write pseudocode to describe the
behaviors the robot will need to complete to make the sandwich.
(E.g., lift the arm, open the hand, reach for the bread, grab the
bread, etc.).

In this teacher’s guide, we use the term flowchart in a very

general way to convey that students are constructing visual repre-
sentations of the problem and its solution. The advantage to flow- Example flowchart
charts is that they help a student identify robot decision making.

This curriculum doesn’t formally introduce flowcharts until the

Remote Control Chapter because the first chapter, Movement, only
require simple behaviors (movingForward, turning, moveUntil an
encoder count). During these activities, students will learn the basic
lexicon of the programming language allowing them to be begin writ-
ing robot behaviors using pseudocode. Teachers should encourage
students to use pseudocode - even if it initially starts as common
descriptions and slowly improves to reflect a more accurate
programming language. Pseudocode will eventually be used to
describe individual parts within a flowchart since each pseudocode
phrase describes a unique robot behavior.

In the Remote Control Chapter, students will begin program-

ming their robots to solve problems that contain multiple steps with
decisions, that is when this curriculum formally introduce flowcharts.
With practice, students will begin to see that flowcharts provide a
visual representation of the robot’s decision making process and then begin using flowcharts to
solve their programming challenges.

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Page 1 of 4
Introduction to Pseudocode
Overview
In order to plan a program and write efficient code students need to be able to write
clear instructions for the robot. This lesson introduces students to the idea of writing clear in-
structions and then introduces them to pseudocode.

Objectives
Students will be able to:
• Listen carefully and follow instructions
• Communicate clear instructions
• Break tasks down into smaller pieces
• Write pseudocode for a simple maze
• Understand the necessity of planning clear steps

Materials
• Blank paper for each student
• Pencil and a ruler for each student
• A large table top or floor surface to setup a simple maze
• Tape to mark out maze boundaries
• Small box or object to represent a robot

Clear Communications Lesson

Procedure
1. Introduce the following “Clear Communications” drawing activity. Tell students:
Robots will follow the program that they are given, even if that program doesn’t make sense. The robot
needs to be given a program that it can understand to produces the desired outcome. Let’s begin with a
drawing activity to help us think about this idea of giving clear instructions.
Have all students begin with a blanks sheet of paper and then
give them the following verbal instructions:
1. Draw a dot in the center of your page

2. Draw a vertical line from the top of your page to the bottom of
your page, passing through the center dot

3. Draw a horizontal line from the top of your page to the bottom of
your page, passing through the center dot

4. Write the word ROBOT center of the square created at the

bottom right of your page
Have students hold up their drawings when everyone is fin-
ished. Check to see that everyone’s is the same. Discuss any
differences if they arise.

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Introduction to Pseudocode Page 2 of 4

Introduction to Clear Communications

Choose a student to be the communicator and give them a simple drawing (see examples at
the bottom of this page) making sure no one else sees the picture that you’ve given the stu-
dent communicator. Have the communicator describe the drawing for the others to reproduce
on their paper. The other students may ask questions for clarification and the communicator
may adjust their instructions if they see mistakes being made. Encourage students to see how
quickly and accurately the picture can be reproduced – each drawing should not take more
than 5 minutes.

Repeat the exercise with a new picture and a new communicator student. This time the other
students are not allowed to talk or ask any questions, but the communicator may still adjust
their instructions if they see mistakes being made.

Repeat the exercise one last time with a new picture. Now the communicator must sit behind
a screen or with their back turned and no questions may be asked. The communicator must
clearly give their instructions one time for the others to reproduce the drawing.
Discuss this last exercise with the
class.

Ask the students who had to be

the communicator:
How did you decide the order in
which to give instructions?

How confident were you that your

instructions would work?
Ask the students who were repro-
ducing the drawing:
Did you find the instructions easy to
follow?

Was there anything you drew differ-

ently because the instructions were
unclear?

What makes a good set of instruc-

tions?
[Emphasize this question, and en-
courage students to conclude that
the instructions need to be broken
down into simple steps because
instructions that are too big can be
confusing and lead to error.]

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Introduction to Pseudocode Page 3 of 4

Introduction to Robot Programming

Tell students: This last exercise is most like programming robots – the programmer (or communicator)
gives a set of instructions which will be followed exactly. The instructions need to be broken down into
the simplest possible pieces so that they can be performed accurately and without confusion.

Tell students: Behaviors are a very convenient way to talk about what a robot is doing and what it
must do. Every action of a robot can be described as a behavior: move forward, turn on a motor, look
for an obstacle, stop, and solve a maze are all examples of robot behaviors.

Direct students to the simple maze shown below on the left. The goal is for the robot to solve
the maze by following the path below on the right. Tell students: To do this, we will think about the
robot’s actions in terms of behaviors.

Give a student a robot. Have a student volunteer move the object along the path that would
solve the maze. Point out that we can easily see what behavior the robot needs in order to
solve the maze.

Tell students:
Some behaviors are too big to give to the robot as
instructions, so we need to think about breaking them
down into smaller behaviors. “Solve the maze” is
actually a very complex behavior because it involves
many steps and the robot wouldn’t know what to do.

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Introduction to Pseudocode Page 4 of 4

Instruct students to:

Write down the behavior “Solve the maze” on the top of your paper.
Now, tell them to:
Break down that behavior into smaller behaviors and write them below in order.
If students are unsure, ask:
What does the robot need to do to follow the solution path?
(Move forward, turn left, move forward, turn right, etc.)

Ask students:
Is your list of behaviors is clear enough to instruct the robot through the maze.
They should realize that we are close, but the robot doesn’t know how far to move forward
each time or how much to turn.

Finally, instruct students to:

Use your rulers to figure out the distance the robot needs
to move for each behavior.
(Exact distances will depend on your maze setup).
Write this new specific behavior next to their last list of
behaviors.

We now have a list of behaviors specific enough to

give as instructions to the robot.
Tell students:
By starting with a very large solution behavior and break-
ing it down into smaller and smaller sub-behaviors, you
have a logical way to figure out what a robot needs to do
to accomplish its task.
Talking about and writing the code in English is the
first step in good pseudocode practice, which allows
us to plan robot behaviors before we translate them
to code.

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Pseudocode Exercise
What is Pseudocode?
Robots need very detailed and organized instructions in order to perform their tasks. Before a
programmer can begin programming they need to break a robot’s behaviors down into simple
behaviors and figure out when each behavior should run. Some programmers like to use
pseudocode to begin constructing the programming problem.
pseudo
adj : not genuine but having the appearance of;
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
Pseudocode is a hybrid language, halfway between English and code. It is not real code yet,
but captures the details that will be important in translating your ideas to code, while still al-
lowing you to think and explain things in plain language. Good pseudocode will make it very
straightforward to write real code afterwards, because all the behaviors and logic will already
be contained in the pseudocode.
Pseudocode example
If you wanted to program a robot to stop when it saw and object and move forward when it
didn’t see and object your pseudocode might look like:

pseudocode

1. Move forward
2. If (sonar sensor detects and object)
stop
3. When the sonar sensor no longer
sees and object move forward.
4. Do this forever

Exercise
1. Convert these instructions to pseudocode and into a flowchart:
a. “If it’s raining, bring an umbrella.”
b. “Keep looking until you find it.”
c. “Take twenty paces, then turn and shoot.”
d. “Go forward until the touch sensor (on port 1) is pressed in.”
e. “Turn on oven. Cook the turkey for 4 hours or until meat thermometer
reaches 180 degrees.”
f. “Crossing the street” Hint, make sure that you look both ways!

2. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of flowcharts and pseudocode.

Explain in your own word why you believe one is better than the other.
Is one of them always better than the other, or are both good in different situations?
Can you use both to help solve the same problem? Should you?

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Introduction to Flowcharts Page 1 of 3

Overview
A flowchart is a visual representation of program flow and is used by programmers to
break down and model robot behaviors. This lesson provides teachers with a guide to
introduce flowcharts in the Remote Control Chapter, and then this lesson should be applied
to all of the subsequent Units. Students have already been introduced to pseudocode and
program flow in the Introduction to Robot Programming activity; this lesson focuses on how to
graphically describe robot decision making. In this lesson the teacher will model how integrate
pseudocode and decision making into a flowchart.

Objectives
Students will be able to: For this lesson, you will need
• Break down a problem into simple components to have programmed a robot
• Organize the components into a proper sequence that moves forward until the
touch sensor is pressed and
• Represent a sequence of behaviors in a flowchart have it ready to demonstrate to
• Use a flowchart to analyze robot behaviors students.

Procedure:
In the example below students will see a program that requires the robot to make a decision
and includes multiple steps. Note: Show all students the picture of the flowchart 1 and flow-
chart 2 below.
Tell students: Now that the robot is using a sensor to make decisions, we can use a flowchart to un-
derstand how our robot’s behavior is broken down into steps within a program. So far, our flowcharts
have just been single steps of pseudocode, but now we will need to add decision blocks which ask a
“yes or no” question.
Show both of the following flowcharts to the class and ask:
Which flowchart best represents a robot that needs to stop when the touch sensor is pressed?

Draw the example

flowcharts on the left
on the board or project
them onto the screen
for students to see and
discuss.

Flowchart 1 Flowchart 2

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Introduction to Flowcharts Page 2 of 3

If students struggle or disagree, ask:
When does the robot stop moving forward? (When the touch sensor is pressed in.)

When does the robot check the touch sensor to make the decision to move forward or stop?
(The robot continually decides to move forward when the touch sensor is not pushed, and
decides to stop when the touch sensor is pushed)
Which flowchart represents a robot continually making decisions based on the bumper sensor?
(The flowchart on the right requires the robot to keep asking if the touch sensor is pressed)

Read through Flowchart 2 (on the previous page) to the class to show how each robot action
is represented in the flowchart. Teach students the difference between start/stop, action, and
decision blocks. Tell students:
The robot must continually check the value of the touch sensor to decide what to do. If the touch sensor
is not pressed, the robot continues running both motors forward. If the touch sensor is pressed, the
robot stops all motors. The flow of these decisions is given in the flowchart 2 on the right, but missing
from flowchart 2 on the left.

Imagine a scenario where the robot’s touch sensor is pushed in

while it is pushing a box off of the table. (Pictured at the right)
When the box is pushed of the table, the robot’s touch sensor is
no longer pressed.
Refer to flowchart 2 as the class thinks about the
following question:
What happens if you start the program with the touch sensor pressed in?”

Give them a moment to think, and then ask students to explain their answer to the class using
a flowchart. Tell the students: Use a flowchart to break down each step of the robot’s behavior so
that we can see what actions the robot will perform in any situation.
See the flowchart 3 at the right. Have students copy
it onto their papers and fill in the blanks to properly
represent program flow while a robot is pushing a
box until its touch sensor is released.
If students struggle, ask:
Now when will the robot stop moving forward?
(When the touch sensor is released)

When students have successfully filled out

their flowcharts, ask the class:
What would happen if the box was not all the way against
the touch sensor when the program started?
(The robot would not move)
Use a flowchart to show this pathway.

Flowchart 3
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Introduction to Flowcharts Page 3 of 3

Touch 4 Walls Challenge

Program the robot to touch all four walls using the
touch sensor to know when it has reached a wall

See the challenge pictured above. On a new piece

of paper, have students design a flowchart to rep-
resent the robot’s behavior in this challenge. The
robot will need to perform more actions after the
bumper sensor is read each time.
Give the students several minutes to work on their
flowchart. Have them work in small groups if neces-
sary.
If students struggle, ask:
What does the robot need to do after the bumper sensor
is pressed? (Backup and turn towards another wall)

Does the robot ever need to repeat its behaviors?

(Yes, it will have the same behavior for all 4 walls)
How will the robot know when it has contacted all the
walls? (When it has repeated its behavior 4 times)

After students have finished, ask a group to draw

their solution for the class. Follow the flow and
check the logic for any missing steps or problem
areas.
Ask if other students created a different flowchart
they would like to share.
Discuss aspects of each solution until the class Pictured above is the solution for the
comes to an agreement on a correct flowchart. It’s Touch 4 Walls Challenge
possible to have multiple correct solutions.

Tell students:
Flowcharts help us understand the decision making
process of a robot. The answer to a “yes or no” decision
will determine what action the robot does. By creating
a properly organized flowchart, we can see the plan a
robot needs to follow to be successful.

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Flowchart Exercise
What are Flowcharts?

Robots need very detailed and organized instructions in order to perform their tasks. The
programmer must break things down into simple behaviors and figure out when each
behavior should run. A flowchart is a tool that can be used by programmers to determine
program flow.

A flowchart provides a way of visually representing and organizing individual behaviors

and decisions within a program -- it provides a diagram of the “flow” of the program. Pro-
grammers use flowcharts to lay out the steps that will be needed in their final program,
and to help determine how the robot’s behaviors should be broken down.

Parts of a Flowchart
Start of Program - Marks the beginning of
Start the program, begin here. Follow the line to get
to the next block.

Statement Block - A statement to ex-

Take one step forward; ecute, or a behavior to perform.

Decision Block - A decision point in your pro-

gram. Ask a simple question, and do different
things depending on the answer.
Gone 50 No
steps? Yes/No - Answers to the question posed in the
decision block. Follow the line labeled with the
appropriate answer.
Yes
End of Program - Marks the end of the
End program. If you reach this point, the pro-
gram is done!

Exercise
1. Make a flowchart organizing the “flow” of getting ready to go to school in the morning. Be sure to
include the following steps in your chart, but don’t be afraid to add other things if you need them!

Select something to wear Look for your shoes Put your shoes on
Take a shower Brush your teeth Hit snooze button
Eat breakfast Put toast in the toaster Get dressed
Walk or get a ride to school Check your alarm clock Comb your hair
Get out of bed Turn on shower Check the time

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Introduction to Robot Programming

Programming is Precise
One of the big ideas of the Movement Chapter is that “programming is precise”. It will be impor-
tant for students to change the way that they think about providing directions. The following activity will
highlight the attention to detail required for students to become successful programmers.

The Humanoid Sandwich Programming Challenge

This activity requires students to program a human robot to make a two ingredient sandwich.
This activity provides students with an opportunity to practice breaking down what appears to be a very
simple task into its smallest parts. Students will quickly learn that they need to use very precise com-
mands when programming robots. Making a two-ingredient sandwich (plus bread) is presumably famil-
iar to most students, and that experience will allow them to think critically about the behaviors needed
to program a humanoid robot. Initially, the majority of students will not be prepared to break this task
down to a level of detail necessary for robot programming.

Procedure
The teacher says:
Your task is to program a humanoid robot to make a two ingredient sandwich. Begin by making a list of
behaviors your robot needs to perform make a sandwich, then turn that list into pseudocode.
Pseudocode is a simple set of instructions that you want the robot to execute. We will test your “code”
by programming a human to execute your sandwich making program.
Students can begin writing their program individually or in small groups.

Identify one student to assume the role of the robot, they will stand in a place where everyone
can see her/him. The props for making the sandwich can be actual bread, spreads/meats, and a utensil
- or they can be stand-ins (paper for bread and/or meats, a pencil for a knife, cups for jars of spreads). The “robot”
(student) will do exactly what fellow students say to do.

The teacher can ask the class for the first behavior to be programmed, followed by the second,
third, etc. Most times, it quickly becomes apparent that students have not fully considered the level of
detail required for programming. For example, the command “pick up a slice of bread” is inadequate. The
robot needs to know in which direction to move to get the bread, how to detect the bread (use of sen-
sory data), how to pick it up, etc. Those are each individual lines of code. It is not important to continue
this exercise once students recognize why greater detail is required - even for a task as simple as mak-
ing a sandwich.

Additional Lessons
This teacher’s guide provides multiple additional lessons that the teacher can use to introduce
students to pseudocode and flowcharts. It is up to the discretion of the teacher to use or not use these
lessons. For additional lessons go to the Index and find:
• Pseudocode and Flowcharts
• Introduction to Pseudocode
• Introduction to Flowcharts

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Teaching How to Troubleshoot Programs

Stop, Trace, Analyze, Revise (STAR)
All teachers want students to learn how to troubleshoot their robot problems. There are
times when a teacher will quickly give a student the answer, but this doesn’t teach them how
to troubleshoot their own programming problems, it teaches dependency. If a teacher imme-
diately answers all student questions, the student quickly learns that all they have to do is ask
the teacher and their problem will be solved. We recommend the STAR approach to teaching
troubleshooting, this approach is designed to teach students stop and trace the program flow,
analyze where there is a difference between what should happen and what happened, and
then revise and test the program.

Teacher’s Role in STAR Troubleshooting

Stop and Determine Student Intent The teacher needs to determine what does the
student think is happening in the program. The teacher needs to ask the students to:
“Please describe step-by-step what is happening in your program”.

Trace Together, the student and teacher, need to trace through the program and identify
where the robot’s behavior diverges from the student’s intent.

Analyze The teacher needs to help the student to analyze what they misunderstood.
Revise Help the student to correct their misunderstanding and to fix their program. Often,
correcting a student’s misunderstanding means re-framing the problem or highlighting some
discrepancy in how the student sees the problem.

STAR - Student’s Role in Troubleshooting Programs

Stop and Reflect What do I think should be happening in each step of my program?
Trace I need to trace through the program step-by-step and identify what my program is
telling the robot to do. If it is a complex program, then I should develop a flowchart that allows
me to see my program flow.

Analyze If the robot is misbehaving, I need to analyze what parts of the program works and
identify the point where the robot stopped doing what I wanted it to do. Then I need to figure
out what I need to change to fix the problem

Revise I need to scientifically correct the program one step at a time and test each part of the
program and fix the problem.

Note: Teachers might choose to post the student version of STAR somewhere in their class-
rooms and direct students’ attention to it as they begin asking for assistance.

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