Unit 3 Introduction to Software and Electronic Control
Note to the teacher: This unit is an introductory lesson on how to
control things using electronics. The worksheets developed are designed to test
for the student’s ability to complete basic programming tasks.
Concepts
taught:
Electronic control
Polarity
Basic programming
Measurement
Conversion of Units
Proportion
Scientific Method
Logical Thinking
Communications Skills
Resources available:
The resources presented here are
intended to help the beginning teacher who has never used robolab.
RoboLab PowerPoint Presentation 1
”Motors, Speeds,
and Sounds Programming Solutions”
Programming
worksheet and Programming
Worksheet Solutions
Basic RoboLab worksheet and Basic RoboLab
Worksheet Solutions
Human to robot programming challenge
Evolution of Electronic Control Presentation
RCX maintenance
PowerPoint Presentation
Electric Generator
PowerPoint Presentation
Teacher will:
Prepare a presentation on the
evolution of electronic control.
Ask student to give examples of
electronic control locally, regionally, and globally.
Preview RoboLab PowerPoint
presentations and present them to the class as appropriate.
Using RoboLab software, an IR
tower, and a RCX write a program and then download it to a teacher-built robot.
Have students divide into pairs.
Have one student act as the programmer and the other the robot. Write a program
to have the student pick something up.
Students will:
Participate in a teacher lead
discussion on basic programming.
Observe a demonstration of
RoboLab, write a simple program, download it and save it.
Complete programming activities
as assigned by the teacher.
Activities:
Divide into pairs. One student
(blind folded) and the other will “program” him/her to accomplish a simple
task.
Write a simple program to move
the Tankbot forward for a specific amount of time, download it, run it and save
it to a floppy disk.
Write a simple program to move
Tankbot forward a specific distance. Use motor speed and time to control
distances.
Use basic proportions to predict
distance when changing the variable time in the program.
Complete the Programming Exercises worksheet.
Develop
a PowerPoint presentation on the data your team developed when calculating
time.
Evaluation:
In class participation
Teacher observations
Work Habit Evaluation
Successful completions of software modifications
Successful completions of hardware modifications
Completion of student designed distance worksheet
Completion
of programming worksheet
Complete Rubric for Evaluation of RoboLab
Programming