Lesson 4 - How do you measure a robot's speed?

Lesson Objective: Experience with programming a robot in 2 different programming modes (Pilot 1 & 2) Testing and measuring the distance the robot moves over a certain period of time = speed Speed = distance / time Graphing data collected

Materials:
1 Motor Car Bot (constructed)
Yard stick for each group
LEGO Minifigure or LEGO Brick for each group
2 different surfaces to test the robot running on (a rug and a floor surface space)
Computer with ROBOLAB Software - Pilot 1 programming
Infrared tower for each computer used

Documents:
Pilot 1 and 2 Test (Basic) (PDF)
1 Motor Car Bot Speed Sheet 1 (Pilot 1) (Advanced) (PDF)
1 Motor Car Bot Speed Sheet 2 (Pilot 2) (Advanced) (PDF)
Graphing Speed Sheet (PDF)
Graph Paper (PDF)

Activity 1 - Pilot 1 Programming - Measuring the robot's speed over time - 1 variable
Pilot 1 programming in ROBOLAB allows users to program 1 motor to move forward or backward at a set power level for a selected number of seconds. Students will experiment with downloading a Pilot 1 program on to their robot and estimating and measuring how many inches it travels in 1, 2, and 4 seconds. They will test their robots travel in two different conditions and compare their results.

Students record their data on the following handout - Use the Basic or Advanced Handouts - Depending on level of students (advanced includes averaging):
Pilot 1 and 2 Test (Basic) (PDF)
1 Motor Car Bot Speed Sheet 1 (Pilot 1) (Advanced) (PDF)

Test Run:
Students will be test running their robots a number of times, so it may be a good idea to assign group roles.
1. Programmer
2. Directions Giver
3. Measurer
4. Robot engineer
5. Recorder

Wrap-up/Share:
Have students share their observations/discoveries.

Homework:
Have students write a reflection in their robotics notebook on what they learned today, and finish their recordings if they did not in class.

Activity 2 - Pilot 2 Programming - Measuring the robot's speed over time -2 variables
Pilot 2 programming in ROBOLAB allows users to program motors to move forwards or backwards at a power level they select for a selected number of seconds.

Students will experiment with downloading a Pilot 2 program on to their robot and estimating and measuring how many inches it travels in 1, 2, and 4 seconds and at 5 different power levels . They will test their robots travel in two different conditions and compare their results.

- Use the Basic or Advanced Handouts - Depending on level of students (advanced includes averaging):
Pilot 1 and 2 Test (Basic) (PDF)
1 Motor Car Bot Speed Sheet 2 (Pilot 2) (Advanced) (PDF)

Test Run:
Students will be test running their robots a number of times, so it may be a god idea to assign group roles.
1. Programmer
2. Directions Giver
3. Measurer
4. Robot engineer
5. Recorder

Wrap-up/Share:
Have students share their observations/discoveries

Homework:
Have students write a reflection in their robotics notebook on what they learned today, and finish their recordings if they did not in class

Activity 3 - Graphing the Data
Students will take all of the data they collected in the speed activities and represent it in a bar graph. They then must communicate what they graphed to the class. Team members can work together, but each student must complete his or her own graph.

Graphing Speed Sheet (optional) (PDF)
Graph Paper (PDF)

Wrap-up/Share:
Have students share their observations/discoveries

Homework:
Have students write a reflection in their robotics notebook on what they learned today, and finish their graphs they did not in class

Assessment:
Assessments will be measured based on informal observations on how well students interact during:
1. Small group work on identifying robotic parts
2. Small group work during robot construction
3. Individual write up of observation
4. Robotic notebook entry on what was built today

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    :: lesson 1
    :: lesson 2
    :: lesson 3
    :: lesson 4

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