Materials for a robotics class of 30

[sanddrag]

First, let me just say I really appreciate all the help so far. It's great to see so many of you offering your advice and sharing your ideas. It means a lot to me.

Many of you have asked what my educational goals are, and I know I haven't fully explained them. Here's why. I'll be honest, I haven't had a spare moment to fully define them yet. I have a lot I'd like to accomplish, but I have not yet laid out the specifics on paper. Teaching a full class during the school day is something brand new to me. It's very exciting, and I am enjoying it. However, I quite literally switched jobs overnight and jumped right into teaching about one month ago. It has taken me time to get set up with everything, and prepare lessons for each day. It takes nearly every waking moment of every day (I teach three periods of Technical Literacy in addition to the two periods of Robotics). It has been going well so far, and I'd like to keep the momentum throughout the year with projects of increasing complexity, while maintaining a fun and competitive aspect.

I like the goals that Don has mentioned. I have been thinking along similar lines.

One of my primary goals right now is keeping the costs of class materials as low as possible. While I would like to run a full-blown program such as Vex at some point down the line, I do not have oodles of funding available in the immediate future (this semester, possibly even this entire school year). Electronic circuits have been a good way for me to teach some valuable topics rather inexpensively, since I already have 15 breadboards, and components are cheap. Another one of my goals is for every student to be highly engaged in hands-on projects. I would like to do this with individual projects and small group sizes. So, it goes back to the need for it to be inexpensive. I'd like to see pairs of students work on projects. Groups of 4 and larger start to lose individual benefit and learning in some students. Finally, I'd like to see structured activities that the class does as a whole. Right now I have a few of one sort of robotics kit, and a few of another sort, and it's too much work for me to prepare and oversee simultaneous activities and to have students going separate ways.

So far, my class has been working on two primary projects. Electronic circuits using discrete components, and an "Invention Challenge" to design a device to lift a ping-pong ball from the floor, to a ceiling that is 2 meters above the floor, in the shortest time possible.

Soon though, we need to move into actual robots, and I think the Tamiya Dual-motor gearbox is a good first step, due to its low cost, and being just about perfect for a small robot. We can start with the design and mechanical aspect, then move into teleoperated control, and then discrete components on a breadboard, and then possibly microcontrollers much later on.

I have access to a VersaLaser machine. I believe it can cut thin materials? I have not verified its operation, but I believe it to be functional. I've used a Universal Laser machine before. I think the laser cutter will be quite useful in cutting robot frames, control panels, and parts from inexpensive materials. Students can design the parts themselves using something like Inkscape (again, free) perhaps.