Course Details

This course is for 10 - 13 year olds. Curriculum is as per Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Lab. 

Pantheon is the largest planet in the KRML Cluster. It has an atmosphere that can support human and plant life. Pantheon has drinkable water, but it currently lacks soil rich enough to support plants. The terrain is relatively smooth. The planet has one major volcano– Mt. Valhalla– which has shown predictable thermal activity. The planet also has lakes, gaseous fumaroles, deep fissures, and meteorite craters. Rock analysis has revealed an abundance of minerals.  Deep Space Terraforming teams have completed construction of a hydroponics greenhouse, and are growing edible plants there. In addition there are space habitats, a communications transmitter, solar station, atmosphere factory, and some roadways already established on the planet’s surface.

In ROBO 1, students will complete the following missions:

• Mission 1: Plant Terraformers Flag: Your Terrabot must maneuver to the flag station, and drop the DST flag on the marked location. This location was surveyed by DST geologist, and pre-marked for the flag. Robots must transport the flag from the Start area to the flag target circle. Once at the flag marker, the flag should be released autonomously onto the target circle.
• Mission 2: Rescue Moon Buggy: Your Terrabot must travel to the Wastelands and search for the derelict Moon Buggy. Once found, you should transport it back to the Start Area for repair. Robots must traverse the board to reach the ‘stranded’ Moon Buggy. For maximum points, robots require some mechanism for connecting with the Moon Buggy.
• Mission 3: Plug Mt. Valhalla Volcano: Plug the top of volatile Mt. Valhalla to redirect geothermal energy to Pantheon City Your Terrabot must travel to the active volcano Mt. Valhalla. Once there, your Terrabot must cap the volcano with a specially designed thermal capping plug (ping pong ball) to siphon off the volcano’s thermal energy. The thermal energy will then be transported to an underground thermal battery station. Robots must transport Capping Plug from Start area to Mt. Valhalla. For maximum points, robots require some mechanism for placing the ball into the crater.
• Mission 4: Move Crater Rocks to Pulverizer: Move crater rocks to the Thor Rock Pulverizer, where they will be smashed into powder. Two Pantheon crater areas have been surveyed and selected as building sites for a future laboratory and movie theater. Prior to construction, rocks in the craters must be removed and transported to the Thor Rock Pulverizer, where they will be crushed for mineral extraction processing. Terrabots must gather the rocks from the craters and transport them to the designated rock corral at the Rock Pulverizing area. Once rocks are in place, make contact with rod to release the pulverizer hammer and smash the rocks.