Session 3: Driving Your Robot

Before You Begin Your Session

In this session, your team will practice driving their Hero Bot! By doing driving tests of the different controller configurations, everyone on the team will get to practice both driving and collecting data about their driving. In a VEX IQ Robotics Competition match, there are two drivers that handoff the controller mid-match. The goal of this session is for students to be able to make data-based decisions about their driving preferences, so the team can identify drive team partners who can work well together in a match. 

Think about how you will keep all students engaged during the driving tests. Since there is only one robot on your team, students will take turns driving it. Consider having roles like:

• Driver - driving the robot
• Timer - using a stopwatch or timer to time how long it takes the driver to complete the task
• Documenter - completes the engineering notebook documentation about driver, configuration, time, and notes for the test
• Robot resetter - replaces the robot in the same starting position for the next test
• Field resetter - replaces the Bean Bags in their starting position for the next test
• Referee - makes sure the task is completed accurately (i.e., Bean Bags are entirely within or on Goals; driver navigates the Field correctly) 

Rotate students through each role so all team members have something to do if it is not their turn to drive. The recommended team size for the VEX IQ Robotics Competition is 4-6 students. If you have more students than that on your team, think about how you will keep all students engaged while only one is driving at a time. 

Have your Hero Bot and VEX IQ Robotics Competition Field ready for the session before you begin. You will need the following: 

• A VEX IQ Robotics Competition Field and Level Up Game Elements: 
  • First, build your competition Field and perimeter 
  • Then assemble this season’s VEX IQ Robotics Competition Field using these build instructions with these Level Up game elements
• A Hero Bot (built in the previous session)
• Charged controller and batteries
• An engineering notebook

Review strategies for implementing this STEM Lab with your team.

• Use the Implementing a Competition 101 STEM Lab article to help you prepare and facilitate this session.
• The Strategies for Introducing a VEX IQ Game article provides suggestions for introducing scoring tasks in a scaffolded way. 
• Read the Making Competition 101 STEM Labs Work For All Students article for ways to adapt, or differentiate, session content to meet varying student needs.
• Review the considerations in the Cultivating a Positive Team Culture article to support your teams' growing collaboration skills.

In this session, students will test each of the controller configurations and collect data on their performance. While a sample table is provided on the task card, students should record their findings in the team’s engineering notebook. The engineering notebook is meant to capture the team’s progress throughout the season and is an important factor in competition awards, like the Excellence Award. Building documentation into team activities can help support students to develop good notebooking habits. Be sure that when students are not actively driving, they are practicing documenting.

Revisit the Student-Friendly Engineering Notebook Rubric with students.

• Because students are running a test and recording data, show them the 'Did we build, test, and decide? – Develop Solutions' section. Focus on the 'How we tested,' 'What our tests showed,' and 'Explaining our choices' rows.
• Have a discussion comparing the levels within these rows: what actually separates an exemplary entry from a proficient one, or a developing one from beginning. Students can find these distinctions to be a difficult part of using the rubric, so give them time to talk through the differences before they start testing. Then, encourage students to check their entries against the rubric while they test, not just when they finish, so they have the opportunity to improve and iterate on their entries.

The video shown here is a shortened version of the video in this article about the Driver Control program. Note that while the video and article reference the Clawbot or BaseBot, the same information applies to the Hero Bot. This article also goes into more detail about the Driver Control program and the options within it, and can be a useful resource when your team is ready to explore further customization.

Students will be building their own documentation of each driver configuration, like the table shown in the article, as they are documenting their testing during this session's activities.

The goal of this activity is to get students comfortable driving the Hero Bot, while also practicing data collection. By the end of the session, students will use their notebooks to help them make data-based decisions about drive team partners that could work best together based on each student’s preferred driver configuration.

Students do not need any Bean Bags on the Field for this activity. Clearing the elements off of the Field can help students focus on the driving task at hand. Other tips for facilitating this activity include:

• Make sure students understand the path they are meant to drive around the Field. You may want to use tape to mark the pattern on the Field.
• To keep things moving, have all students test one configuration at a time. For example, once everyone has tested Tank Drive, then change the configuration, and carry out the test for everyone with Split Arcade. This will minimize students' time between their driving turns to help keep them engaged.
• Make sure that students are taking turns between driving and carrying out the other roles. You may want to post the order students will drive, and the rotation of non-driver jobs, so that students know when it will be their turn.
  • All students are responsible for recording data in the engineering notebook. 

If time allows, repeat the test so everyone has more than one chance to drive each configuration. Encourage non-drivers to pay attention to the drivers to note strategies, ask questions, and think about adjustments they might make on their next turn. Prompt students to discuss what worked well and how they could improve their time or efficiency, and to make note of these ideas in their data collection.

Remember to keep student learning as the main focus as they drive. Students must do all of the driving and data collection themselves, but you can offer tips like pointing or marking inside the Field so drivers can see where the robot needs to go, showing the steps to change a drive configuration once and then letting students do it, or asking questions like "What did you notice about turning in that configuration?" instead of telling students which one to use.

• Refer to the Student-Centered Policy for more details about what the coach/mentor can and can't do while the team drives and tests.
• Remind students of the Student-Centered Check items that apply to driving and recording data if needed:
  • Robot: Are we designing, building, testing, coding, and improving our robot?
  • Notebook: If we keep one, are we the ones writing our decisions, iterations, learning, successes, and failures?

The goal of this activity is for students to collect additional data about their driving, using a task where precision is key. 

Only put the one Bean Bag that is needed on the Field for this activity. Clearing the majority of the Field can help students focus on the task at hand, and ensures that everyone is testing with the same setup. Other tips for facilitating this activity include:

• Make sure the Bean Bag is reset in the same position each time, to ensure accurate data collection.
• Communication is key! Encourage students to help one another figure out where they need to drive and position the robot in order to gather the Bean Bag and score it on the L1 Goal.
• To keep things moving, have all students complete a test with one driver configuration at a time. For example, once everyone has tested Tank Drive, then change the configuration, and carry out the test for everyone with Split Arcade. This will minimize students' time between their driving turns to help keep them engaged.
  • You can keep the same rotation of drivers and other roles as the previous activity. Ensure that students know when it will be their turn, and that all students have a chance to document.

If time allows, repeat the test so everyone has more than one chance to drive each configuration. Encourage non-drivers to pay attention to the drivers to note strategies, ask questions, and think about adjustments they might make on their next turn. Prompt students to discuss what worked well and how they could improve their time or efficiency, and to make note of these ideas in their data collection.

If your students are struggling to make decisions about drive teams, or to use their data to support their thinking, check out this collaborative decision-making video to support students in using data to guide their choices. It offers practical strategies and examples you can share with learners who need extra help interpreting results and making team-based decisions.

Remember, as the coach, your role is to support students to make these decisions themselves. You cannot dictate drive teams, but you can guide students' thinking by doing things like:

• Having students group themselves by favorite or fastest configuration to get started.
• Pair students with complementary skills - like someone who was fast at manipulating the arm and intake paired with an agile driver.
• Ask questions about the data to support students' ideas - Does your drive time data support your partner choice? Why or why not? Or, what data are you using to back up your choice? 

Review this article to learn more about cultivating a positive team culture.