Hello all!
I’m a new Vex IQ teacher working at an Elementary School with their robotics program. Out of all the kits that were purchased 8 of them did not include the brain, motors, or sensors. These were called construction kits and came with a bundle purchased from an educational STEM program. I’ve been able to teach the classes with the complete kits without a hitch.
My question is what would you as teachers, teach to a class if you did not have the robot brain, motors, or sensors. I spent a good deal of time teaching mechanical basics using the simple machines portion of the online Vex curriculum. We are currently building the Chain Reaction device that follows that part of the course. If you guys have any suggestions as to what would be great to do next, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Robot Mesh Studio offers a free online CAD system that you can use to build VEX IQ robots (complete with accurate physics) and then program and test them online. Take a look at the VEX IQ Hour of Code Mimic activity for a sample of what is possible. The HOC uses a pre-built robot for programming, but you can also build your own. The programming languages are Python, Blockly, and Flowol (a flow-charting program that builds executable Python code).
VEX IQ Mimic Hour of Code activity: www.robotmesh.com/hoc
VEX IQ Studio, which supports both Mimics and real VEX IQ robots, is available for free at www.robotmesh.com/studio
- Plan, Do, Test
- Structural concepts
- Center of gravity concepts
- Catapults (could come up with all kinds of fun games)
- 2D modeling
- Sketching a design to scale
- Explaining a design (oral presentation and/or interview style)
- Effective strategy
List could literally go on and on! You don't need a brain/motors/sensors for many fun activities.