Extras for “LEGO MindStorms EV3 Robots for Absolute Beginners”

Under construction. This is a course about having fun building three small robots and finding out how to teach them to do what you want them to do. During this course you will teach your robot to approach a pretend Alien, go around a pretend Moon, clean a pretend floor, and follow a line, plus some classroom-useful extras. A 17-page pdf overview of our original course (without extras) is available for download here. Let’s start! Extras useful in a classroom: Many of these tutorials are similar to those in our free DrGraeme.org and Udemy courses, but when completed, this course will also contain extra tutorials (e.g. Tug-Of-War, Mexican Wave, Robot SUMO, two-sensor line following, setting up line and walled mazes, avoiding an obstacle on a line, RoboCup information, etc.) which are suitable for classroom  use when more than one EV3 set and/or extra components are available for use by students. It will also include some additional comments/videos that may assist new teacher/mentors/parents to introduce students to EV3 robotics, while at the same time clarifying our approach to this delightful task.

Course Information

Estimated Time: 20 – 30 hours

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Course Instructor

DrGraeme DrGraeme Author
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Teacher Introduction

Fun with LEGO EV3 Robots – Teacher Introduction
Extra – Unpacking your LEGO EV3 set
Extra – Background to this Course Methodology

This course aims to add some of the background to our “Fun with LEGO MindStorms EV3 Robots for Absolute Beginners” course. It includes why we have made some of our decisions regarding course structure, coverage and layout. It also will include some sample solutions for the “Challenges” in the “Fun with LEGO MindStorms EV3 Robots for Absolute Beginners” course. When competed, access to this course will be somewhat restricted, so that students will not have these “Challenge” solutions easily available to copy.
Extra – How to Change the Video Playback Speed
Extra – Problems with Videos “Stuttering”
Extra – Noisy Classrooms and Closed Captions
Extra – Translating Video Closed Captions
How to find the YouTube Playlist…

Downloading and Installing the LEGO Software

How to download LEGO’s free coding and editing software.
LEGO MindStorms EV3 software – why do we need it?

Building Your First Robot

Building your first beginner robot

Teaching your Robot to move

How can we make our Robot Botticelli move: Parts 1 & 2 of 4?
How do we update our Robot’s “Firmware” : Part 3 of 4?
How do we teach our Robot Botticelli to move: Part 4 of 4?

Teaching your Robot to move, smile and speak.

Teaching our robot to move, smile and speak – overview.
How do we teach Botticelli to smile?
Approaching the horrible Alien…
What do we do when our Robot reaches the Alien?
What if the Alien’s Universal Translator is not working?
How can you bring your Robot back safely from the Alien?
Extra – A LEGO EV3 “Mexican Wave”

Building your second Robot

Changing Botticelli into LucyBot – Part 1.
LucyBot’s back half – Part 2 – Education set only
LucyBot’s back half – Part 2 – Home set only

Going around the Moon

Sending LucyBot around the Moon!
How to send LucyBot out to the Moon.
Sending Lucybot around our pretend Moon.
How to land LucyBot back on our pretend Earth.
Four ways student’s robots went “Around The Moon”
Moon journeys by Robots taught by advanced students.

A Robot floor cleaner

A Robot Floor Cleaner? – Overview.
Two floor cleaner runs from Margate School
Five Floor Cleaner runs from Huonville School
Four Floor Cleaner runs from a TAG workshop.
Two Floor Cleaner runs from Mount Nelson School
Hints for solving the Floor Cleaner Challenge.

Extra – Tug-of-War

Extra – LEGO EV3 Robot Tug-of-War!

If you are in a class group which has more than one robot kit, then we can have a Tug-of-War competition. We can either use our present robot, or build an entirely new robot for this Challenge.

Building your third Robot.

Building our third Robot – Overview
Building YayaBot – Part 1
Building YayaBot Part 2 – Education set only.
Building YayaBot Part 2 – Home Set only.

Extra – Staying inside a SUMO ring

Extra – SUMO – Overview.
Extra – Finding a black line using the Color Sensor.
Extra – Teaching YayaBot to stop at a black line.
Extra – Staying inside a SUMO ring.
Extra – Student SUMO Challenges!

WE look at three SUMO Challenges between student enthusiasts at a TAG Course in Tasmania, 2017

Extra – How to Calibrate your Color Sensor

Extra – How to Calibrate your Color Sensor.

Follow the edge of a line.

Follow the edge of a line – Overview.
Follow a Line – Getting the Sensor Readings
Follow the edge of a line – Part 1 of 2.
Follow the edge of a line – Part 2 of 2.

Extra – Setting up Line Mazes.

Extra – How to Set up Tape Line Mazes – Part 1 of 3
Extra – How to Set up Colored Line Mazes – Part 2 of 3
Extra – Using Printed Maze Templates – Part 3 of 3

Extra – Toys in the Swimming Pool.

Extra – Clearing Toys from the Swimming Pool – Overview
Extra – Clearing Toys from a Swimming Pool.

Extra – Setting Up Walled Mazes

Extra – Setting Up Walled Mazes

Extra – A Robot that Rescues

Extra – A Robot that rescues a “Person” from a “Swamp”.

One of the Challenges from RoboCup Junior is a Rescue Challenge where a Robot follows a line around an arena, meeting various Challenges on the way, and finally rescuing the “Person” by pushing them out of the “Swamp”.

Extra – Robot Avoids Obstacle

Extra – Avoiding an Obstacle

One of the challenges in many competitions is to avoid an obstacle that is blocking the line your Robot is following. Often this “obstacle” is a soft drink bottle filled with water, or it may be a lump of rock or a chunk of wood. How can we teach our Robot to avoid this obstacle and continue to follow the line?

Extra – Line Following, More Than One Sensor

Extra – Line Following Using Two Color Sensors

As well as teaching our Robots to follow the edge of a line using one Color Sensor, we can also teach our Robot how to use two Color Sensors. Some people thing there may be some advantages using two Color Sensors. Let us experiment, and see if they are right.

Extra – RoboCup National Event

Extra – RoboCup Junior National Event – Australia 2014

I was lucky enough to visit the 2014 Australian National RoboCup event in Brisbane. These images and videos are some of my impressions of these talented students and their robots…