Design journal

Every week's journal prompts in one place. Return here to record your sketches, tests, and decisions as you build.

Week 1: What Makes Something a Robot?

Go to lesson

Sketch your Helpful Robot and label its input, processing, and output.

Describe or note your sketch.

Write one sentence about the job your robot does and who it helps.

Write your answer.

Week 2: Building a Robot That Moves

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Sketch your rolling base from the side and label the motor, axle, wheels, and where the weight sits.

Describe or note your sketch.

Record your speed-and-straightness test results and which setup rolled best.

List each item on its own line.

Write one sentence about what you would change to make your base more stable.

Write your answer.

Week 3: Giving Exact Instructions

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Write the pseudocode for your delivery path in plain language, one step per line.

Write your answer.

Sketch your path map and mark your predicted stopping square before running.

Describe or note your sketch.

How many commands did your final working program need?

Enter a number.

Week 4: Helping Robots Sense

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Record your sensor readings across the conditions you tested and the threshold you chose.

List each item on its own line.

Write down your threshold number and one sentence explaining why you picked it.

Write your answer.

Note how much your readings wobbled when nothing changed, and how many readings you took.

Enter a number.

Week 5: Making Robots React

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Sketch your obstacle-avoidance program as a loop with a read-sensor and an if/else inside.

Describe or note your sketch.

Write the one line-following rule your robot follows, as 'if ... then ... else ...'.

Write your answer.

Record how many of your three obstacle tries the robot avoided the obstacle.

Enter a number.

Week 6: Debugging and Reliability

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Fill in your three-run reliability table: the expected result, and the actual result and Match? for each run.

List each item on its own line.

For one debugging mission, write the symptom, the bug family, and the one change that fixed it.

Write your answer.

Record the final stored value of your obstacle counter and how it compared to the real number of obstacles.

Enter a number.

Week 7: Planning an Autonomous Mission

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Write your mini planning brief: the mission, its requirements, its constraints, and its success criteria.

Write your answer.

Draw the flowchart of your autonomous mission with action boxes, at least one decision diamond, and a safe stop.

Describe or note your sketch.

After the practice run, check off which success criteria your mission met.

List each item on its own line.

Final project

Go to lesson

Write your planning brief: mission, requirements, and constraints.

Write your answer.

Draw your labeled sketch and input-processing-output diagram.

Describe or note your sketch.

Record your three test runs and the improvement you made.

List each item on its own line.

Write your final explanation of how the robot helps.

Write your answer.

Your entries are saved automatically on this device as you finish each field.