Students build a working robot from loose parts, learn what actually makes it fast or strong, program it to sense what is around it, and finish by putting it in a sumo ring in front of their families. No experience needed — everything is provided.
Every week builds on the robot from the week before. Nothing gets torn down and restarted — by week 4 each team has a machine that is genuinely theirs, and they spend the remaining eight weeks making it smarter.
| Week | Date | Session |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 16 | Build and test. Build your first robot and drive it exactly one meter. Measure the error, then fix it. |
| 2 | Sep 23 | Grip and strength. Why some robots push and others spin. Traction, friction, and surviving a hit. |
| 3 | Sep 30 | Speed or strength? Gear ratios — trade speed for pushing power, then see which wins a tug of war. |
| 4 | Oct 7 | Design your fighter. Now you choose — gearing, wheels, shape. Build the robot you keep. |
| 5 | Oct 14 | Make it move. Motors and sequence. Drive an exact distance on purpose. |
| 6 | Oct 21 | Repeat and turn. Loops and accurate turns. Drive a repeatable path without babysitting it. |
| 7 | Oct 28 | Feel a hit. The touch sensor — the moment a robot knows it has found its opponent. |
| 8 | Nov 4 | See the edge. The color sensor — detect the ring boundary and stop before driving out. |
| 9 | Nov 11 | Find the opponent. The ultrasonic sensor — measure distance and close in. |
| 10 | Nov 18 | Decide. If/else logic. At the edge, back off. On contact, push. |
| 11 | Dec 2 | Design the edge. Wedges, plows and low profiles — the attachment that wins matches. |
| 12 | Dec 9 | Tournament. Round-robin sumo in front of families. Awards for design as well as for winning. |
Two dates to put in your calendar: the program starts Wednesday, September 16, and there is no class on November 25 for Thanksgiving. The tournament on December 9 is open to families — please come.
The syllabus is the one-page version of everything on this page. The notebook is what your student writes in every week — we hand one out in session one, but you can print another if it goes missing.
Dates, what students learn each week, and what they will be able to do by December.
Download PDF 13 pagesExactly what happens in each of the twelve sessions, minute by minute. Published so you can see what your student's hour actually looks like.
Download PDF Print and bindWhere students predict, test, and record what actually happened. Theirs to keep at the end.
Download PDFThere is nothing to buy and nothing your student needs to bring.
Email us — a parent will answer, usually the same day.
admin@loudounrobotics.org