Summer 2009 On Site Courses 

July 6-10 ROBOTC for VEX
July 20-24 ROBOTC for VEX (Full)

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Read Teacher Comments About the Class

Learn how to use VEX Robots and ROBOTC programming to teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) concepts in your classroom. This hands-on course trains teachers to build, program and troubleshoot VEX Robots. Teachers will also review classroom-ready step-by-step lesson plans that reinforce geometry, physics, engineering, and math using multimedia teaching tools developed at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy.

Teacher commenting on 2008 classes:
”Robotics Academy sessions take care of both experienced robotics teachers & those just starting out..!”

5 days of on-site, hands-on training where you will learn how to teach using ROBOTC, the robust C-programming language for VEX. New VEX hardware that you will learn to use includes the LCD display, accelerometer and gyro sensors...!

Week of class covers the following:

Day 1 – The morning will introduce material about programming in a syntax-based language, how to break down your robot's tasks into manageable behaviors, how to write pseudocode, what firmware is and how to download it, and how to download and run programs on your robot. In the afternoon, you will program your robot to maneuver through a pre-planned course, first with basic movements, and then using Loops, Boolean Logic, and the new VEX Encoders.

Day 2 – In the morning, you will learn how to improve your robots movement by incorporating Conditional Statements into your programs. In the afternoon, you will learn how to turn behaviors you've written into more efficient Functions. You will also learn how Parameters, or Variables, can be used to make Functions more usable.

Day 3 – In the morning you will learn how to re-incorporate remote control from the VEX Transmitter into your programs. You will use the joysticks to control the robots movement, and Timers to determine how long you maintain control. In the afternoon you will learn how to assign functions to the Transmitter buttons, for the robot to automatically carry out when pressed. By the end of day three, you will learned how to program encoders, sonar sensors, touch sensors, light sensors, gyro sensors, infrared sensors, and potentiometers to control your robot. We will also have covered the new LED screen that allows VEX users to receive real time feedback from their robots.

Day 4 – In the morning you will learn how you can incorporate a breadboard, an electrical meter, electronic parts, and schematics into your classroom to introduce your students to electronics & electrical problem solving. In the afternoon, you will be divided into teams and be given an engineering design challenge to solve. This challenge uses commonly found pieces and can easily be incorporated into your classroom.

Day 5 – You will learn how to run a VEX competition by competing in one, participate in a debriefing session where all teachers will discuss what they learned this week, receive a CD containing worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, pictures, and videos that were used in presentations during the week at Carnegie Mellon.

During the training you will learn about:
• The VEX Curriculum 2.0
• The new VEX controller
• VEX Resources
• VEX Competitions

Teachers will leave the class with:
• Act 48 Credits / 36 hours per class ( for Pennsylvania teachers only )
• Certificate of Completion for course 'graduates' - may be used to apply for Continuing Education hours
• A CD that contains the worksheets, presentations, programs, and pictures used by presenters during the week as well as contact information from the other teachers that attend the session. (you will meet teachers from across the globe that are using robotics in their classrooms)