Maze Challenge
How can we program a robot to travel a maze?Copyright (girl) 2005 Tracee L. Jackson, U.S. Marine Corps via Wikimedia Commons; (maze) 2005 Rurik Wikimedia Commons; (LEGO icons) authors
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blindfoldlowres.gif
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Longleat_maze.jpg
As the first engineering design challenge of the unit, students are introduced to the logic for solving a maze. First they observe a blindfolded student volunteer being guided through a classroom maze by the simple verbal instructions of another student. In this demonstration, the blindfolded student represents a robot and the guiding student represents programming commands. Then student groups apply that logic to program LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 robots to navigate through a maze, first with no sensors, and then with sensors. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quizzes and a worksheet are provided.
Programming a robot to navigate a maze is similar to real-world engineering design projects, such as controlling a Mars Rover to explore the planet surface. Engineers design robots to carry out tasks in locations that are dangerous for people, such as in ocean depths, volcanoes, factories and war zones, and to provide reconnaissance and aid in natural and human-made disasters.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Write LEGO EV3 programs that use sensor data to make the EV3 motor move so that the robot can navigate a maze.
- Use and iterate the steps of the engineering design process to create the logic for a LEGO EV3 program that has a LEGO taskbot navigate a maze.
- Program and run the LEGO taskbot so that it navigates a maze, an example of the testing phase of the engineering design process.