Description
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm.
Grades 3-6.
We’ll study model construction and engineering design. And we’ll program our models using Lego’s EV3 Mindstorms software. We will not generally follow step-by-step instructions of complete models designed by someone else–this course is about figuring out how to design our own solutions to problems!
We’ll begin by focusing on vehicle design in a variety of contexts, and in the second half we’ll work on robotic arms, cranes and elevators. We’ll cover principles of structural design, gears (drive trains, transmissions, coupling rods), and input and output devices. What design choices make a car go faster? What choices make a vehicle better in a “bot battle”? What if you need it to climb a really steep hill, or pull a heavy load? What is torque? How do you transfer rotational motion perpendicularly? What the heck is a worm gear? So many questions!
Students wanting an extra challenge will also learn how to program their robots using the MicroPython coding platform.
