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Stage 02 of 04 · Builder

Robotics Engineering Fundamentals

Engineering process on a real platform.

Robotics

Ages
11 – 15
Duration
10 weeks
Prereq
C1 Robot Friends helps; not required.

What students learn

Real engineering practice on a robotics platform — sensors and actuators, control loops, CAD-then-build, debugging, and the engineering notebook habit. Bridge from “drag-and-drop in Blocks” to “I can write the program in text and reason about why it works.”

Engineering process as a daily habit. Control-loop intuition (bang-bang → proportional). The ability to read and debug other people’s robot code. Documentation discipline.

Module-by-module

  1. Engineering process

    Design → build → test → iterate. Robot spec sheet.

  2. Drivetrain mechanics

    Wheels, gear ratios, torque vs. speed. Robot drives a precise path.

  3. Sensors

    Distance, gyro, encoder, color. Robot follows a route by sensor.

  4. Control loops

    Bang-bang vs. proportional. Smoother line-following.

  5. Manipulators

    Arm, claw, intake. Robot picks up and moves an object.

  6. Autonomous routines

    Sequence sensor-driven actions. End-to-end auto.

  7. Notebook & CAD

    Document with CAD sketches. First proper notebook.

  8. Debug bootcamp

    When it doesn’t work, why? Three documented fixes.

  9. Mid-term build

    Student picks a challenge. Working solution.

  10. Final demo

    Present, defend choices. 5-minute demo + Q&A.

What they make

A robot that performs a multi-step autonomous routine, documented in an engineering notebook.

Walk away with

Engineering discipline. Control-loop intuition. Code-reading and debugging skills.

Free resources we recommend

  1. VEX Education STEM Labs (V5 / EXP)

    Same org that runs the competition.

    VEX Robotics.

    Structured STEM Labs

  2. CMU Robotics Academy / CS2N

    University-quality K-12 curriculum.

    Carnegie Mellon University.

    Online courses + badges

  3. WPILib “Zero to Robot”

    The FRC programming bible. Universal for control loops even outside FRC.

    Worcester Polytechnic Institute for FRC.

    Documentation + tutorials

Honorable mentions

Next step

C12 Competition Robotics, or an Innovator project that uses robotics.

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