Transport Two Colored Disks Using Sensors
Teacher Toolbox
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Activity Outline
In this activity, students will be introduced to using sensors with conveyor systems. Students will build a project to move two disks (red and green) through a conveyor system using sensor feedback from the Optical Sensor and VEX Infrared Line Trackers.
Students will program red disks to be diverted off the conveyor system, and program green disks to travel through the system and stop in front of the V5 Robotic Arm in any order.
Students will be introduced to using blocks from the ‘My Blocks’ category in VEXcode V5 in their project to control the Workcell depending on the color of the disk that the Optical Sensor detects.
Students will begin the activity by opening the ‘Arm Workcell - With Sensors’ example project.
| Quantity | Materials Needed |
|---|---|
| 1 |
V5 Robotic Arm |
| 1 |
VEXcode V5 Factory |
| 1 |
Engineering Notebook |
| 1 |
Device to run VEXcode V5 Factory |
| 1 |
Micro-USB cable |
| 4 |
Colored Disks (2x red and 2x green) |
Teacher Tips
- Ensure the V5 Battery is charged before beginning.
- Ensure the V5 Brain is connected to a device before beginning.
- Point students to the VEX Robotics Knowledge Base if they have further questions about VEXcode V5 or the hardware.
- Ensure students have their mastering values readily available from Lab 1.
- Students may need to adjust the value of the [Wait] blocks when testing the conveyors to ensure they spin long enough to transfer the disk.
- Ensure the blocks from the ‘Motion’ category have the correct motor name. If not, the conveyors may not spin properly.
- Before testing multiple iterations of this project, ensure the Diverter is in the proper location before starting. If not, manually move the Diverter to the proper starting location.
- When testing multiple iterations of the ‘Workcell’ project, ensure to remove the disk from the conveyor(s) before adding a new disk. Only one disk should be sorted at a time.
In this section, you will be introduced to using sensors with conveyor systems. You will build a project to move two disks (red and green) through a conveyor system using sensor feedback from the Optical Sensor and VEX Infrared Line Trackers.
You will program red disks to be diverted off the conveyor system, and program green disks to travel through the system and stop in front of the V5 Robotic Arm in any order.
You will be introduced to using blocks from the ‘My Blocks’ category in VEXcode V5 in your project to control the Workcell depending on the color of the disk that the Optical Sensor detects.
You will begin the activity by opening the ‘Arm Workcell - With Sensors’ example project.