Name: ______________________________
Date: ____________________
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)
Key ideas
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).
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.
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).
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.
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.
Your activity
Design, build, program, and test your helper robot
Goal: Carry 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.
Write what happened:
Predict
Write your guess before you test.
Before your first test run, predict: which part of the mission is most likely to fail?
Test and record
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.
Record: Whether the mission succeeded and what changed between runs
| Run | What happened | Mission complete? (Y/N) | What to change |
|---|---|---|---|
Knowledge check
Answer each question. For choice questions, circle the best answer.
Why do engineers write a planning brief and draw a flowchart before building?
- A.To make the project take longer
- B.To think through the mission, requirements, and steps before spending materials
- C.Because building is not allowed
- D.To decorate the robot
Your program must include a condition. What does a condition let your robot do?
- A.Repeat the same move forever no matter what
- B.Choose an action based on what a sensor reads
- C.Move faster
- D.Charge its battery
Why do you run the mission three times instead of once?
- A.To prove it works reliably, not just once by luck
- B.Because the first run doesn't count
- C.To use up the battery
- D.So it looks busy
What is a 'safe stop' behavior?
- A.Turning the robot off by pulling the battery
- B.A programmed behavior that stops the robot when the job is done or something is in the way
- C.Driving until the robot crashes
- D.Making the robot go faster at the end
Reflect
How does your robot help someone? Explain the mission in two or three sentences.
What was the one improvement you made after testing, and how did it change the result?
If you had another week, what would you add or change next?