Robotics Curriculum

6^th Grade

Inventor Challenges

In the “Rainbow Cluster” students meet everyday for 8 weeks.  This is a “Quinta.” 

The Robotics course is a ‘Hands-on” course where students are building prototypes with LEGOs, testing & analyzing the prototype. Students work in groups of 2, an occasional 3, to a “Robotics Station.”  The 6^th graders learn about the six simple machines.  They build sets dealing with structures, levers, wheels & axles, pulleys, wedges, inclined plane, screw, and gears, mechanisms, and motorization.  These activities take about 5 weeks.  At this point in the course, the 6^th graders move on to the building of Robots and the designing of programs using our RoboLab computer software.

Some of the “Challenges” or assignments are:

• Build a Reclining Chair
• Build a Draw Bridge
• Build Gear Ratio Assemblies, Test, & Evaluate, & Record Results
• Build a Turnstile,
• Build a Merry-Go-Round
• Build a Mechanical Piano key striker, or drum sticks.
• Build Wiper Blades
• Build a Car with Gears
• Build a Conveyor Belt
• Build a Crane Hoist

About the 4^th week, the 6^th grade class will begin the computer program “RoboLab” programming software.  The following will take place:

• Sixth grade students will complete as many Challenges as time in the Quinta permits.
• As “Engineers” in the Robotics class, students are given a packet of “Challenges” to design a program of functions and operations using the RoboLab software, develop and build a robot, test its performance, and make adjustments as needed to each “Challenge.”  Students work in groups of 2, an occasional 3, to a “Robotics Station.”
• There is a lot of “Critical Thinking” going on in the class.  It incorporates math skills, reading skills, comprehension, skills, hand-eye coordination skills, and social-building skills to name a few.  They have to get the Robot to do exactly what the Challenge wants it to do.  If it is not perform properly, they go back and evaluate, assess, and rework the program to make it right.

• The students will build a variation of the FLL Scooter Robot model adding the Touch Sensor to Port 1, and the Rotation Sensor to Port 3.  This will be our Base Model. Using the Inventor 3 Challenge series of the RoboLab software program, student engineers develop this program using icons that are clicked and dragged into place.

Following is a list of “Challenges” that the 6^th graders will begin working on.  They can do as many “Challenges” as time permits in the “Quinta.”

Challenges 1 through 8 use Inventor 3; Challenges 9 and beyond will use Inventor 4.  Inventor 4 has more options available for programming.

Challenge I            Inventor 3             “Go 2 and Stop”

Challenge 2            Inventor 3             “Wait & Press, Go & Stop”

Challenge 3            Inventor 3             “To Press or Not to Press”

Challenge 4            Inventor 3             “Run, Press, Stop, Rising Sweep,

                                                           and, Jump & Land"

Challenge 5             Inventor 3             “Multitasking”

Challenge 6            Inventor 3             “Spin, Stop, and Buzz and Loop”

Challenge 7            Inventor 3             “Wait and See”

Challenge 8             Inventor 3             “Move, Spin and Beep”

**** NOTE: Use Inventor 4 for Challenges 9, 10, 11, 12, and beyond ****      

Challenge 9            Inventor 4             “Travel Exactly 10 inches”

Challenge 10 Inventor 4             “Travel 10 inches, Turn 90 Degrees Right”

Challenge 11  Inventor 4             “Make a Square”

Challenge 12 Inventor 4             “Follow That Line”

Challenge 13 Inventor 4             “Up the Ramp, Down the Ramp”

Challenge 14 Inventor 4             “The Cha-Cha Challenge”