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Engage

Launch the Engage Section

ACTS is what the teacher will do and ASKS is how the teacher will facilitate.

ACTS ASKS
  1. Share the Lab scenario and get students thinking about how they can code their robot to drive the exact distance of the parade route.
  2. Show the students the slide with the [Spin for] block, drawing their attention to the dropdown parameters as shown in the image.
  3. Focus students’ attention on the “turns” parameter.
  4. Discuss students’ suggestions in determining how many turns the robot’s wheels must make to travel a set distance. Students should suggest that it is necessary to determine the distance of one wheel turn first, in order to use that information to determine the number of turns it will take to drive the parade route's exact distance using the [Spin for] block.
  5. Take student suggestions for how to measure the distance the robot would travel with one turn of the wheel. Tell them they are going to measure this distance themselves in the next part of the lab.
  1. We’ve built our parade floats, and now it is time for us get ready to show them off in a parade! The parade planners have created a route for us that is exactly 48 inches (122 cm) long, and the planners want us to be sure our floats travel that exact distance - no more and no less. How can we code our robot to travel the exact distance of the parade route?
  2. When we code our robot to travel the route, we have to tell it exactly how far to go. Here is the code block we are going to use in our projects. What do you notice about the parameter in this block?VEXcode GO Spin for block with the distance parameter blank and the unit parameter open and 'turns' selected. The block reads Spin Right Motor Forward for blank turns.
  3. You probably noticed that in this block we can’t tell the robot a distance to travel in inches or centimeters, but instead have to tell it a specific number of wheel turns for it to travel.
  4. We know that our parade route is 48 inches (122 cm) long. If we have to tell our robots a certain number of wheel turns for it to travel this length, how could we figure this out?
  5. What if we measured the distance that the robot would travel with one turn of the wheel as our first step? How could we do that?

Getting the Students Ready to Build

Let’s make sure we have everything ready to code our robots to travel the parade route successfully. 

  • If students do not have a Code Base 2.0 from the previous Lab, allow 10 - 15 minutes for students to build it prior to the Lab activities.

Facilitate the Build

  1. InstructInstruct students that they are going to work together to code their robot to drive the exact length of the parade route, and that you are going to spend a few minutes getting set up to do so. Place five attached tiles in a central location, allowing students to see the parade route. Measure the distance and ensure that students know the length of parade route (48 inches / 122 cm). View the animation below to see how the Code Base robot should correctly travel the parade route. In the animation the Code Base drives straight across the five tiles, and when it reaches the end a line appears to indicate the total distance it has traveled.
  2. DistributeDistribute one pre-built Code Base 2.0 and a computer or tablet to each group, along with a Blue Standoff, a measuring device such as a ruler or a Printable VEX GO ruler, paper, and a pencil. Students should be able to see the materials and workspace clearly.

    VEX GO Code Base 2.0 build.
    Code Base 2.0
  3. FacilitateFacilitate students' getting ready to measure the distance of one wheel turn by demonstrating how to remove one Gray Wheel from the Code Base robot and placing a Blue Standoff in the wheel as shown in this image.
  4. OfferOffer students the opportunity to ask any questions they may have.

    A blue stand off inserted into the bottom hole in the center row on the VEX GO wheel hub.
    Setup for measuring distance of wheel turn

     

Teacher Troubleshooting

Facilitation Strategies

  • Think about how your students will access VEXcode GO in Play Part 2. Ensure that the computers or tablets that students will use have access to VEXcode GO. For more information about setting up VEXcode GO, see this article.
  • Gather the materials each group needs before class. For this Lab, each group of two students will need a GO Kit, Build instructions, a computer or tablet to access VEXcode GO, access to a parade route to test their coding projects, a pencil, paper, a blue standoff and a ruler, such as the VEX GO Printable Ruler.
  • Set up your Parade Route ahead of time, as shown in the image below. The parade route can be made with 5 GO Tiles. The red lines in the image below show the start and finish lines for a 48 in (122 cm) parade route. You may want to have multiple parade routes set up around the room for students to test their project in Play Part 2, so multiple groups can test at the same time.  

A top down view of the parade route setup, showing 5 VEX GO Tiles connected horizontally, with a red line indicating the start and stop along the first and last vertical black lines on the Field, 48 inches apart. The Code Base sits at the start, with the black wheels aligned with the red line to the far right.
Code Base on the parade route showing start and stop locations

 

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