Robot Workshop

Maker Experience

Cardboard Robots (70 minutes)

Students design and create a robot prototype from recycled cardboard with dimensional and other constraints.

• Launch: Robots We Need (10 min)

• Explore: Making Robot Prototypes (40 min)

• Explore More: Introducing Our Robots (10 min) 

• Connect: Reflecting on Making (10 min)

Building Math 1

Robot Hunt (70 minutes)

Students create various mathematical representations of their robots then match each others’ robots with their representations. 

• Launch: What Are Specs? (15 min)

• Explore: Creating Robot Specs (20 min)

• Explore More: 3-D Robot Drawings (25 min) 

• Connect: Reflecting on Making (10 min)

Building Math 2

Boxes for Our Prototypes (70 minutes)

Students use the length, width, and height of their robots to sketch then build that box to fit their robot.

• Launch: Packing Our Robots (15 min)

• Explore: Designing Boxes (35 min)

• Connect: Making Sense of Boxes (20 min)

Building Math 3

Melanie’s Box (70 minutes)

Students learn to compute volume and reason about volume. 

• Launch: Finding Volume? (15 min)

• Explore: Our Box’s Volume (10 min) 

• Explore More: Melanie’s Box (30 min)

• Connect: Factors (15 min)

Cycle Finale

Robot Warehouses (70 minutes)

Students solve a Fermi-style problem in which they use non-standard volume measurements to estimate how many of their robot’s boxes would fill a warehouse

• Launch: Visualizing Volume Strategies (20 min)

• Explore: Fermi Estimates (25 min)

• Connect: We’ve Learned Volumes! (25 min)