Preview
- Grade(s): 9-12
- Time: 1 week
Description
- Students will learn tips and tricks with the VEX V5 Workcell and compete in a mini-competition to achieve a high score.
- Students will be guided through different troubleshooting techniques, as well as helpful suggestions, for how to edit the Workcell.
- Students will investigate how workcells are used in manufacturing facilities.
- Students will compete in a mini-competition. The goal of the mini-competition is to sort as many ‘shipments’ as possible in a 5-minute round. A shipment is a collection of six disks: two red, two green, and two blue.
- After exploring the rules of the mini-competition, students will be guided to build a project in VEXcode V5 to score as many points as possible in the mini-competition.
- The team at the end of the mini-competition with the most points in a single round, wins.
Essential Question(s)
- How do I prepare for a mini-competition?
- How do I troubleshoot the V5 Workcell?
Understanding(s)
Students will understand:
- Troubleshooting techniques for the V5 Workcell.
- What a workcell is and how they are used in manufacturing facilities.
- Different aspects of workcell programming, including Robot Trajectory Planning, I/O Mapping, and Logic.
- The rules and goal of the mini-competition.
Objective(s)
- Review troubleshooting techniques to prepare for a mini-competition.
- Identify the design process for a workcell.
- Create a project for the mini-competition to sort as many shipments as possible in 5 minutes.
Vocabulary
- Workcell
- a specialized arrangement of people, equipment, tools, and materials in a manufacturing environment used to improve the quality, speed, and cost of the process.
- Virtual Simulation/OFF-LINE Programming
- tools which allow engineers to design a virtual model of a workcell.
- Robot Trajectory
- planning out a robot's behaviors within a workcell including its speed, position, and actions and how they relate to the other devices within the cell.
- I/O Mapping
- creating a schematic or chart which indicates each of the input and output connections between the workcell’s processors (PLC, robot processors, CNC machine processors, etc.) and their devices.
- Logic
- using flowcharting or other tools to determine the most efficient behavior for the devices in a workcell to complete a task.
- Cycle time
- the elapsed time between a workcell starting an action and the time it takes to complete the action.
- Cost analysis
- an accounting of all the costs related to production to create a projected margin of profit.
Materials Needed
| Quantity | Materials Needed |
|---|---|
| 1 |
Engineering Notebook |
| 1 |
VEX V5 Workcell |
| 1 |
VEXcode V5 |
| 6 |
Colored Disks (2x red, 2x blue, 2x green) |
Educational Standard(s)
- Next Generation Science Standards: HS-ETS1-3. Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem, based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
- Computer Science Teacher Association: 3A-AP-18 Create artifacts by using procedures within a program, combinations of data and procedures, or independent but interrelated programs.
- Computer Science Teacher Association: CSTA 3A-AP-13 Create prototypes that use algorithms to solve computational problems by leveraging prior student knowledge and personal interests.
- Computer Science Teacher Association: 3A-AP-17 Decompose problems into smaller components through systematic analysis, using constructs such as procedures, modules, and/or objects.
Go to this page in the Knowledge Base to see a cumulative list of VEX V5 Workcell STEM Labs standards.