I’m gearing up to teach my first year of robotics. I will only have the kids for a semester at a time, and I want to make sure the the EDR kits all have the same parts at the end of each semester as they started with. I’m kind of taking the “lazy” approach and asking if anybody has any type of inventory spreadsheet or pdf that they could share. I’m hoping to make the students accountable for making sure all the parts are in the kit at the beginning and end.
I’m not opposed to creating one, but I don’t have the kits yet to make a list of everything that comes in a kit.
vexrobotics.com has a parts list for each of their kits under “Kits Content” of the product page. Print that - or better yet, have your students make a parts spreadsheet before they get the part. It is a good exercise in material management.
you are welcome. you can be “lazy” and be an effective teacher by letting the kids do the work. They may grumble, but they will have a chance at learning to name the parts correctly, organize, and plan. Sounds like a big win over having a box of metal jumble and kids yelling “pass me the the black shiny thingy”
And please share the best spreadsheet they make - we are lazy too
I copied and pasted the parts list into a Google Sheet. We are getting the EDR Superkits. I don’t think that the students will need a ll the extra parts in their tubs. I’m going to have to tear a kit apart and figure out the necessary parts for what is needed in class.
I def. like the idea of the kids creating their own inventory lists, however I’m kinda anal and want to make sure everything is there at the beginning and end.
First decide on what you want the students to do. For example, when I teach beginners I have a set of challenges they have to complete. I designed the set to use the full spread of VEX IQ sensors we had. Things are shifting dramatically in course layouts, but it worked quite well. I had them do user control (infinite loops, if-then statements, variables, dealing with user speeds, tank drive, arcade drive, switching between them with a touch LED, and button presses), drawing a square with a circle inscribed in it (finite loops v. indefinite loops, turning and center of mass, encoders, and gyroscopes), doing a line follow and switching color lines (different loop types, variables, if-then statements, color sensors), and finding and parking inside a box in a dark room (touch sensors, sonars, finite loops v. indefinite loops, variables, if-then statements). Second semester we went into mechanical advantage, stability, and manipulators.
Based on time constraints and what you decided in #1, decide if you want everyone to work off the same basic bot or not. I did this in the fall, though they had to keep adjusting it after the first challenge. Spring semester I gave total autonomy on this once I’d shown them more physical stuff.
Based on what you want the students to do, decide what sensors and other equipment will be critical. Get enough of that plus a little spare.
Order enough materials (C-channels, plates, bars, axles, etc.) to physically build those robots. This will depend on what you decided in #2.
This may not work in a classroom setting, as the kids often may not know what they are going to do from the very start or may change the plans partway through. Not to mention, many kids also don’t know how to work with any CAD programs
Since this will be my first year teaching robotics, I’m going to have the students build the Clawbot and see where things go from there. I have very little knowledge about programming, so autonomous mode might have to wait for year 2. I only have students for 18 weeks at a time, so I’m not sure how many different projects will be able to be built.
Based on the items needed to build the Clawbot, I have modified an inventory list that one of the teachers at the high school uses. VEX Parts Inventory (Modified).xlsx (16.8 KB)
