LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime Challenge

Explore the field of STEM and robotics and design a exploration robot using the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime set


The brief: As an engineer in a top robotics laboratory, you have been asked to join a new and exciting research opportunity; to develop and build a new exploration vehicle. Your robot could explore the depths of the ocean or journey to the planets!

To be successful, you will need to research exporation robots and create your very own vehicle using the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime set (includes Spike expansion set).

You will need to:

  • Work as a team to research, design and build a prototype of your robot.

  • Document your research, designs and programming (show us your design thinking throughout the process).

  • Submit images and video of your exploration robot.

  • Present your documentation through a video (include slides, short videos of how it works, the design, how it might move and its functions).

  • Be creative. Showcase how it works and its special features.

This challenge is for LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime robots only.

Specifications

  1. This needs to be your own design. You are encouraged to research and find examples of what others have already done, but your final product should be your own: not a copy of someone else’s idea.

  2. You will create a Technical Paper to show evidence of:

    • Research. Show links, images, notes, sketches, your builds (did they change?). What features of the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ did you really enjoy using when designing and building your exploration robot?

    • Planning your design and programming – justify your decisions. Think about why you chose this design, and how will it work?

    • Features of your exploration robot. What makes it useful and what special features, and where does it explore? For example, navigating through tight corners through a flexible shell, diving deep in the ocean using powerful propellers...?

    • Programming - explain how the motors and sensors are used to add interest to the exploration robot. Anything else that you think would be important.

Remember that your robot will not be remote-controlled; you should use the LEGO® SPIKE™ software and write a program that enables it to be autonomous.

Submission

What to Include in your challenge submission

Scoring can be found here: scoring rubric

  1. A video (max 3 minutes) of you demonstrating your robot as it explores.

  2. An introduction/overview where each team member discusses their role. What roles did each team member have during the challenge – designer, engineer, builder, programmer? Did the roles change?

    • A discussion about why you think you robot is a good example of an exploration robot.

    • Describe the interesting design features of the exploration robot: did you use motors, sensors, LEGO® elements and how do they add interest?

    • Each team member should discuss what they found challenging and what they enjoyed the most (e.g. the build, designs, research, programming).

    • Your robot in action. Zoom in and out to show your new exploration robot in action.

  3. Technical Paper document (a .pdf is best) or shared link to your Google Doc/ Folder with all your supporting evidence, outlined in (2) in the specifications. (Make sure sharing permissions are working.)