Welcome to the exciting world where code comes to life! Have you ever dreamed of building your own robot and telling it exactly what to do? With our 16-week self-study course, you can turn that dream into reality. This adventure is designed to introduce young creators in grades 2-4 to the amazing fields of robotics and programming. Using the fun and colorful Scratch visual programming language, you’ll learn how to command your very own robotic car. This course is perfect for curious beginners who are ready to build, code, and see their ideas roll into action.
You will learn to master motors, understand sensors, navigate tricky obstacle courses, and even program your car to drive all by itself. Through engaging weekly lessons and hands-on projects, you will build a powerful foundation in problem-solving and computational thinking. Get ready to transform simple drag-and-drop code blocks into real-world robotic motion. Your journey to becoming a robotics programmer starts now!
What You Will Learn on Your Robotics Adventure
Upon completing this course, you will have a new set of amazing skills. You’ll be able to:
Understand Your Robot: Learn all the parts of your robotic car, from its wheels and motors to its sensors and computer brain, and understand how they work together.
Speak the Language of Robots: Use the simple, block-based Scratch programming language to give your robotic car commands for movement and cool actions.
Create Smart Programs: Use logic and loops to make your car do more than just move. You’ll program it to make decisions and repeat actions, creating complex and fun behaviors.
Give Your Car Senses: Teach your car to “see” and “feel” the world around it using sensors. You’ll program it to follow lines on the floor and automatically avoid crashing into obstacles.
Become a Code Detective: Learn how to find and fix bugs in your Scratch programs, a super important skill for any programmer.
Build an Awesome Final Project: Combine all your new skills to design and program a final project that shows off everything your robotic car can do!
Your Robotics Builder Toolkit
To get started, you will need a few key items for your workshop:
A computer with internet access.
The free Scratch 3.0 programming software (online or desktop version).
A compatible robotic car kit that works with Scratch programming. Popular kits include mBot, ELEGOO Smart Robot Car Kit, or the OSOYOO Robot Car Kit. Make sure your kit includes instructions for connecting to Scratch!
Batteries to power up your robotic car.
A USB cable to connect your car to the computer.
Tape or construction paper to create fun race tracks and obstacle courses for your car.
Learning to Program with Scratch for Robotic Car
Our course is broken down into 14 fun-filled weekly lessons, followed by a two-week final project. Here is a sneak peek at your first two weeks.
Week 1: My First Robot Friend
Learning Goals:
Get to know the main parts of your awesome robotic car.
Explore the Scratch interface and understand how to use code blocks.
Successfully connect your car to Scratch and make it move for the first time!
Key Vocabulary:
Robot: A machine you can program to perform amazing tasks all by itself.
Robotic Car: Your new robot friend on wheels that you can control with code.
Scratch: A super fun, free programming language that uses colorful blocks you snap together like digital LEGOs.
Sprite: In Scratch, this is any character or object you can program.
Block Palette: Your toolbox in Scratch, filled with all the command blocks you can use.
Scripts Area: Your workshop where you build your programs by connecting blocks together.
Lesson Content:
Welcome, young robotics engineer! Today, we start our adventure by meeting your robotic car and its programming language, Scratch. Think of your car as a small computer on wheels. It has motors that make it move, sensors that help it “see,” and a tiny computer brain that follows your instructions.
First, let’s explore Scratch. On the left side of the screen is the Block Palette, which holds all your colorful command blocks organized by what they do (like Motion, Sound, and Events). The big space in the middle is your Scripts Area. This is where you’ll drag and drop blocks to build your instructions. The most important step today is connecting your robotic car to your computer and Scratch. Your robot’s instruction manual will show you exactly how to do this. Once connected, the commands you build in Scratch will be sent to your real-life car! Our very first program will be simple: making the car drive forward. Let’s make some magic happen!
Hands-on Mission:
1. Carefully assemble your robotic car using your kit’s instructions.
2. Open Scratch and add the special extension for your robotic car (look for the blue icon in the bottom-left corner).
3. From the “Events” category, drag a “when green flag clicked” block into the Scripts Area.
4. Find a block that tells your car to move forward (it might be in your robot’s special block category).
5. Snap the “move forward” block under the green flag block. Set the speed to 50 and the time to 1 second.
6. Click the green flag. Watch your robotic car move in the real world! Try changing the speed and time to see what happens.
Week 2: Forward, Backward, Turn!
Learning Goals:
Program your car to move forward, backward, turn left, and turn right.
Use “wait” blocks to control the timing of your car’s movements.
Create your car’s first dance routine by linking several commands together.
Key Vocabulary:
Algorithm: A step-by-step recipe of instructions that tells your robot exactly what to do.
Sequence: The specific order that your code blocks run.
* Motor: The part of your robot that turns electricity into motion, making the wheels spin.
Lesson Content:
Last week, you made your car move forward. Now, let’s teach it some new moves! Your car has two motors, one for the wheels on the left and one for the wheels on the right. To move forward, both motors spin together. To turn left, the right motor might spin faster, or the left motor might spin backward. Luckily, Scratch makes this easy with simple blocks like “turn left” and “turn right.”
Timing is everything when you’re a robot programmer. How do you make your car drive in a perfect square? You need to tell it to drive forward for a specific amount of time, then turn for a specific amount of time, and repeat. The “wait” block from the “Control” category is your best friend for this. It lets you pause between commands to make your robot’s movements precise. Let’s combine these new skills to create a sequence of moves.
This is just the beginning of your journey with Scratch for Robotic Car. With each lesson, you’ll unlock new abilities and teach your robot to perform more complex and exciting tasks. Are you ready to code, create, and command your way through the world of robotics? Let the adventure roll on