Time Allocated

Curriclum Material

One Week

Safety
Safety is a concern in all industry today.
The safety lessons that we’ve include in this document begin to set an attitude that the student may take with them for the rest of their lives. This is a very important lesson.
• General Lab Safety
• Electricity
• Power Tools
• Soldering
• Extended testbed
• Safety Unit Quiz
• Suggested Safety Activity

Two days

Introduction to Engineering –
      a. What is Engineering?
      (This set of concepts will be revisited many times over the semester)
          i. What is Engineering? PowerPoint/Engineering 101
          ii. Definitions of Engineering PDF/Project Management
          iii. Engineering Process PDF/Project Management
          iv. Have students write their definition of what an engineer is or what an engineer does.
This introductory lesson will be reviewed as needed.
Extension Activity – Reverse Engineering Activity

Three days

Introduction to VEX Systems –
A system is a group of parts which accomplish a task.
      a. System Overview Hardware/Overview Click the link and you will have an opportunity to see Vex in terms of systems.
      b. Unpack and store the kit Hardware/Unpacking the Kit (This will be important for you to establish good cleanup and storage procedures from the first day the kit is opened)
      c. Test the kit – Build the test bed that will allow students to see how the controller, crystal, battery pack, motors, and remote control work together.

Homework – Have students find a complex piece of machinery and identify the sub-systems that make the machine. Students are responsible to present their machine to the class.

Two weeks

Rube Goldberg Challenge –
Introduce the challenge, how to work in teams, and how to brainstorm before you divide students into teams.
      a. Rube Goldberg resources
           i. Rube Goldberg PDF/Engineering 101
          ii. Rube Goldberg Mechanism Video/Engineering 101
          iii. Lab Grading Sheet/Rube Goldberg Mechanism/Engineering 101
     b. Working in Teams 1- day
          i. Working in Teams PowerPoint/Engineering 101
          ii. Team Building PDF/Engineering 101
          iii. First Team Meeting PDF/Engineering 101
     c. Brainstorming 1-day
          i. Brainstorming PowerPoint/Engineering 101
          ii. Brainstorming Primer/Curriculum/Project Management
          iii. Problem Solving Strategies/Curriculum/Project Management

Divide students into engineering teams
     a. Project Management 1-day
          i. Using Gantt Charts PDF Curriculum/Project Management
          ii. Master Schedule PDF Curriculum/Project Management
          iii. Assign students teams to solve the Rube Goldberg challenge. Each team is responsible to turn in a completed Gantt chart.

Schedule the date of the challenge
          i. Prepare for the challenge
          ii. Host the challenge
          iii. Score the results of the challenge

Debrief with students – 1 day
          i. Review working in teams/brainstorming and talk about what worked and what didn’t work.
          ii. Review what engineering is and how this activity related to engineering.
          iii. Assign students to write a summary of what they will do to improve team dynamics with the next problem solving activity.

Homework assignment – Assign students to write a report about the difference types of energy: (Potential, Chemical, Elastic, Gravitational, Nuclear, Heat, Kinetic, Electrical, Electro-magnetic...)
Have students sketch ideas of their Rube Goldberg mechanism and share ideas with the class.

Two weeks

Introduction to programming the VEX remote control –
     When you begin the Vex remote control lesson you have the choice of either having students program with the Remote Control Testbed or with Squarebot. Both work, the difference involves whether you are interested in having your students build mobile robots or mechatronic systems. Squarebot takes longer to build, but you can also use it for the “how signals are sent lesson.”

     a. Build squarebot – remote control/build squarebot
     b. Learn to program the radio for multiple configurations.- remote control/lessons/
          i. Config menu
          ii. Reverse menu
          iii. Scale menu
          iv. Edit PT menu
          v. Trim menu
          vi. P. Mix menu
          vii. Drive menu
     c. Have students complete teacher-designed obstacle course to demonstrate their radio programming ability

One - Two Weeks

How are signals sent?
This is a great lesson that teaches students how crystals work. It also teaches scientific process, graphing, and teamwork.
          i. Introduction for students Lessons/How Are Signals Sent?/Introduction for students
          ii. Build the signal box/or use Squarebot Lessons/Remote Control/Signal Box Slide Show OR remote control/build squarebot
          iii. What is resonance? Lessons/Remote Control/VEX controller and resonance
          iv. Tacoma Bridge example of resonance
          v. What are crystals?
          vi. Complete the lab

Three Weeks

Orchard Project Phase I
The Orchard Project covers technology in social context, teaches introductory programming, provides opportunities for students to make and test modifications & revisions to their designs to demonstrate engineering process. The project has multiple phases, the first using only remote control.

     a. Introduce the Orchard Project Curriculum/Path Planning/Orchard Project/Problem Statement
     b. Introduce Phase 1 Challenge – Remote control
          i. Structural stability
          ii. Center of gravity
          iii. Wheel sizes
          iv. Gear trains
          v. Joystick controls
     c. Design/Build the model orchard – Orchard Project/Build the model orchard

Three Weeks

Orchard Project Phase II Basic Autonomy
At this point the class will begin to use easy C for programming the Vex controller. Phase 2 removes the human operator and forces the robot to attempt to navigate solely by autonomous means, using timed movements (e.g. move forward for 4 seconds) as a primitive form of dead reckoning. This phase is intentionally difficult, as these factors will provide the motivation for students to look for better ways of navigating, such as those found in Phase 3.

     a. Problem Statement
     b. Introduction to Programming
          i. What is Programming?
          ii. Programming Intro
          iii. Behaviors
          iv. Flowcharts
     c. Motors and Timing Programming
          i. Programming Quick Start
          ii. Motor on
          iii. Move Forward
          iv. Turn
          v. Multiple Actions
          vi. Power Levels
     d. Team demos
     e. Discuss Assessment

Three Weeks

Orchard Project Phase III Sensor Autonomy
Phase 3 introduces sensors as a way to improve robot performance by giving the robot ways to sense useful things about its environment. Students will implement sensor-based navigation behaviors to navigate the orchard autonomously.

     a. Problem Statement
     b. Intro to Sensors/Sensor pages
     c. Boolean Logic
     d. Sensor Programming
          i. Forward till Push
          ii. Wall Follower
          iii. Measured Forward
          iv. Measured Turn
          v. Light Threshold
          vi. Line Tracker
     e. Team demos
     f. Discuss Assessment

One week

Orchard Project Phase IV – Obstacle Avoidance Extension (Optional)
Optional Phase 4 presents additional challenges in programming and control for groups that finish early or are interested in tackling additional, more complex problems.

     a. Problem Statement
     b. Ultrasonic Rangefinder Programming
           vii. Ultrasonic: distance based stop
           viii. Ultrasonic Speed Control
     c. Team demos
     d. Discuss Assessment

One - Two weeks

How much can my motor lift?
The motors that come with the Vex starter kit are either dc motors with a gearbox or servomotors with a gearbox. It is important that students learn their limitations. This lab is designed to begin to teach students about motor capacity. (Students will need to know about mechanical advantage to solve the Goldberg Perpetual Motion machine.)

          i. Stall torque lesson procedures Lessons/How much can my motor lift/Lesson procedures
          ii. Build the stall torque testbed Lessons/How much can my motor lift/Stall torque construction slide show
          iii. Student quiz Lessons/How much can my motor lift/checking for understanding

One Day

Introducing Design Reviews
          i. Design Review PDF Engineering 101/Design Review PDF

Six weeks

Perpetual Motion Machine
          i. Engineering 101 Design Challenge - VEX Perpetual Motion Machine
          ii. Engineering 101 Video VEX Goldberg Perpetual Motion Machine
     b. Review Project Management as needed
          v. Scheduling – Assign students to develop a Gantt Chart
          vi. Design reviews – Schedule times for design reviews for groups
          vii. Documentation – Assign students to keep a Daily Log of what their team accomplished Curriculum/Project Management/Scheduling/Daily Log
          viii. Teamwork – review as needed
     c. Engineering Design Process – review as needed
     d. Robot Control Systems – review as needed
          ix. Basic robot signals
          x. Radio control
          xi. Mechanics
          xii. Fastening systems
          xiii. Axles, bearings, & bushings