Robotics Course
I was approached by my middle school to help create a FLL team in the school. I tried to drum up interest, but it was hard to find students who could make the time commitment. So I decided on doing a short robotics class on the weekends where I could teach concepts using Lego Mindstorms Robotics Kits. The end goal was to get kids engaged with the class so that they would want to join a FLL team next year. Once I knew there was interest in the course, I looked into securing the kits I would need. Typically the kits are sold for around $350 and I thought we would need 3 or 4 of them in order for everyone to get a chance to build. After some research, I found a place called Khel, they offered Mindstorms kits and lab space for rent at a very low price, so I decided to host my course with them.
For the first few lessons, I taught basic simple machine concepts, then showed their integration in larger industrial machines. Then I went over some common robotics designs involving gears and linear motion. Then I let the kids do projects based of the tutorials and whatever designs they liked. Once their designs were made, I taught them about sensors and programming. Then for a final project, I created an obstacle course and asked them to navigate it and manipulate items. The key was to use sensors on the robot to determine where certain randomly placed objects were located