Final project
Design a Robot That Helps
Choose a real mission and design, build, program, test, and improve a robot that does it.
- 90-120 minutes (can run across two sessions)
- Mission: Design, build or simulate, program, test, and improve a robot that carries out one helpful mission of your choice.
This is the capstone. Students pick a mission - delivery, search-and-rescue, inspection, sorting, or accessibility help - and pull together everything from the course: a planning brief, a labeled sketch, an input-processing-output diagram, a flowchart, a mechanical design that moves, at least one sensor, and a program that uses a sequence, a loop, and a condition, with a safe stopping behavior. They run three test runs, document one improvement, and explain how their robot helps.
By the end of this week you can
- Turn a real need into a robot mission with requirements and constraints
- Plan a robot with a brief, a labeled sketch, an input-processing-output diagram, and a flowchart
- Build or simulate a robot that uses at least one sensor and moves reliably
- Write a program that uses a sequence, a loop, a condition, and a safe stop
- Test the robot three times, document one improvement, and explain how it helps
Learn
Pulling the whole course together
The final project is not a new idea - it is every idea from the course working at once. Your robot will sense (Week 4), decide with loops and conditions (Week 5), move on a solid base (Week 2), follow a planned sequence (Week 3), be tested and improved (Week 6), and run a safe autonomous mission (Week 7).
Start from the mission and work backward: what does this job need the robot to sense, decide, and do?
Choosing a mission that matters
A good mission solves a small, real problem for a real person. 'Deliver a note across the classroom' is better than 'do everything', because you can actually build and test it.
Pick a mission you can finish in the time you have, with the sensors and parts you actually have.
For example: Delivery; Search-and-rescue; Inspection; Sorting; Accessibility assistance
Plan before you build
Professional engineers plan on paper first. Your planning brief names the mission, the requirements (what it must do), and the constraints (limits like time, size, or materials).
Then you draw a labeled sketch, an input-processing-output diagram, and a flowchart of the program. Planning first saves you from rebuilding later.
Test, improve, and explain
Run your robot three times and record what happens each run - not just whether it 'worked'. Real robots are judged on doing the job reliably, not once by luck.
Find one thing to improve, change it, and note the result. Finally, explain in a few sentences how your robot helps and how you know it works.
Words to know
- Mission:
- The one helpful job you choose for your robot to do.
- Planning brief:
- A short written plan describing the mission, requirements, and constraints before you build.
- Input-processing-output diagram:
- A picture showing what your robot senses, how it decides, and what it does.
- Flowchart:
- A step-by-step diagram of your program using boxes for actions and diamonds for decisions.
- Iteration:
- Improving your design by testing it, finding a problem, and changing it.
- Safe stop:
- A behavior that makes the robot stop safely when the job is done or something is in the way.
- Rubric:
- A chart that describes what beginning, developing, proficient, and exemplary work looks like.
Stay safe
Read these before you build or run a robot this week.
- Caution:Keep a clear, obstacle-free area for test runs and stay clear of moving parts.
- Caution:Use child-safe scissors with an adult when building the cardboard model.
- Note:Save your program and journal often so a browser refresh doesn't lose your work.
Do it
Choose your path
Do this course with a robot kit, the browser simulator, or unplugged with household materials. Pick one - you can switch anytime without losing your work.
Design, build, program, and test your helper robot
Robot kitCarry the chosen mission from plan to a tested, improved robot that uses a sensor, a sequence, a loop, a condition, and a safe stop.
- Complete the planning brief first: mission, requirements, constraints. Then draw the labeled sketch, the input-processing-output diagram, and the flowchart.
- Build or set up the robot so it moves reliably and uses at least one sensor. Write the program with a sequence, a loop, a condition, and a safe stop.
- Run three test runs, record each, make one improvement, and write your final explanation of how the robot helps.
Build and program the mission on a robot kit
You need: Robot kit with at least one sensor, Planning, flowchart, and test-record pages
Steps
- 1Finish the planning brief and diagrams before touching the kit.
- 2Build a stable base for your mission and attach the sensor you need.
- 3Program a sequence to do the job, a loop to keep checking the sensor, a condition to react, and a safe stop at the end.
- 4Run three tests, record each run, improve one thing, and re-test.
What success looks like: A kit robot that completes its mission on at least two of three test runs and stops safely.
- Uses at least one sensor
- Program has a sequence, a loop, and a condition
- Has a safe stop
- Three runs recorded
- One improvement documented
Safety: Keep clear of moving parts during test runs. Give the robot a clear, obstacle-free test area.
If it doesn't work
- Robot works once but not again
- - Run the reliability checklist from Week 6: same start position, fresh batteries, re-check the sensor threshold.
- Robot never reacts to the sensor
- - Print the sensor reading and confirm your threshold is on the right side of the real value.
Go further: Add a second sensor or a counter so the robot handles a harder version of the mission.
Program the robot
Build a program from blocks, then run it on the simulator. On the kit path, use the same steps in your robot's app; unplugged, act the blocks out on a floor grid. Your program saves on this device.
Final mission program
The program that runs your chosen mission: a sequence, a loop, a sensor condition, and a safe stop.
Add a block
Events & execution
Movement
Control
Data
Output
Variables & counters
Your program
- Move
- Robot (arrow points where it faces)
- Goal zone (dashed outline)
Map: A 5 by 1 grid. The robot starts at column 1, row 1, facing right. The goal zone is at column 5, row 1.
Ready.
Ready to run. · 0 steps
Robot state
- Column
- 1
- Row
- 1
- Facing
- right
- Distance ahead
- 4 cells
- Touch
- clear
- On a line
- no
- Light
- 80
- In goal zone
- no
- Collisions
- 0
- Steps
- 0
Robot at column 1, row 1, facing right. Distance ahead: 4 cells. Touch: clear. Over a line: no. Light: 80. Not in the goal zone.
Log output
Nothing logged yet.
- Heads up: This program has no safe stop behavior. Add a safe stop so the robot stops when it is done or blocked.
Predict
Commit to a guess before you test - then see how close you were. Your predictions save automatically.
How to check: Compare your prediction to what actually goes wrong in the three test runs.
Test & improve
Final mission three-run test
Run the full mission three times from the same starting setup. Record what happened each run and whether the mission succeeded.
Measure: Whether the mission succeeded and what changed between runs
| Run | What happened | Mission complete? (Y/N) | What to change |
|---|---|---|---|
Knowledge check
Check that you can explain the choices behind your final project.
1. Why do engineers write a planning brief and draw a flowchart before building?
2. Your program must include a condition. What does a condition let your robot do?
3. Why do you run the mission three times instead of once?
4. What is a 'safe stop' behavior?
0 of 4 answered
Reflect
Your reflections save automatically.
After the course
You've finished the course - you can now design, build, program, test, and improve a robot that helps.
- Show your robot to family or classmates and explain how it works.
- Keep your planning brief and flowchart; they're the start of your next robotics project.
- Try a new mission from the list you didn't choose.
Finish the final project
Complete these to mark the week done and unlock the next one:
- Complete the planning brief, sketch, IPO diagram, and flowchart (not done yet)
- Build or set up a robot that moves and uses at least one sensor (not done yet)
- Write a program with a sequence, a loop, a condition, and a safe stop (not done yet)
- Run three test runs and document one improvement (not done yet)
- Write the final explanation of how the robot helps (not done yet)