Teacher Toolbox
-
Facilitating the Sort the Disk Using Code Page
What the Teacher Will Do:
- Instruct students that they will be working together in their groups to follow the steps on this page.
- Circle the classroom as students work through these steps and answer any questions that arise.
- As groups check in, ensure they have built their project correctly before moving on. Guidance for this check in is provided in a Teacher Toolbox at the bottom of this page.
Now that you have coded the arm to pick up the red disk from the pick up location, you will now continue to build on the project to code the arm to sort the red disk into the drop off location.
In VEXcode V5, follow the steps in this video to add a [Joint move] block, a [Wait] block, and enter the coordinates for Point 3.
Use your coordinates for Point 3 and not the ones shown in this video.
Download and run the project. The arm will move to the drop off location and sort the disk by dropping it into the standoffs.
If your arm did not sort the disk, notify your teacher.
Once you have finished coding the arm to sort the disk, stop the project.
Teacher Toolbox
-
Troubleshooting
If groups are finding that the arm does not pick up and drop off the red disk when they run their project, try the following troubleshooting techniques.
- Change the z-value in the [Joint move] blocks.
- The electromagnet may not reach the disk or may be too low to clear the standoffs in the pick up location. Have students change their z-values and test the project.
- Check the mastering values.
- Instruct students to check that the mastering values they recorded in their engineering notebook during Seek match what is in the [Set mastering] block.
- If the problem still persists, have students follow the steps in Seek to rerecord their mastering values.
- Check the VEXcode V5 project.
- Have students compare their project to the video on this page and ensure the order of the blocks match. Make sure students are re-downloading their project each time they make a change and before they run the project
- Check the build.
- There may be a mechanical issue with your Workcell. Instruct students to look at the Lab 7 build instructions first and verify that the additions to their Workcell match.
- Have students go back to the Lab 1 build instructions for a complete look at the build and check that all elements match. Even one small detail being wrong can affect the movement of the arm on the Workcell.
Teacher Toolbox
-
Check in
Review the following with the group during their check in:
- Ensure groups have built their project correctly. View this example code as reference. Note that the mastering values and the coordinates will vary depending on the group.
- Ask students to explain the difference between setting the electromagnet to 'boost' and 'drop' with the [Energize electromagnet] block.
- 'Boost' boosts the magnetism of the electromagnet and attracts disks.
- 'Drop' de-magnetizes the electromagnet and repels disks.