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Robotics track
Robotics

A robotics course: motors and sensors to robots that decide

Drive motors, read distance and line sensors, build a car that avoids walls, then a balance bot and a Mars rover, all on simulated boards.

FreeIn your browser3 courses, 14 lessons, about 10 hours
Start freeA DC motor on a driver: speed and directionSee the course
Overview

How you will learn it

A robot is three things in a loop: sense, decide and act. These courses build each part and then put them together, so you understand why the robot does what it does instead of copying code that happens to work.

Motors and motion builds the acting half and ends with a robot car. Build a balance bot adds feedback control, and the Mars rover course adds navigation and a full mission.

Outcomes

What you will learn

  • Drive DC motors, servos and steppers and measure motion with an encoder.
  • Read distance and line sensors and decide from them.
  • Balance a two-wheel robot with a PID loop.
  • Plan a rover mission with odometry and hazard detection.
Your route

The courses and lessons to take

Every lesson opens in the editor right away, signed in or not, and the simulator checks each step.

  1. Step 1 路 7 lessons 路 4 h

    Motors and motion

    Motors, then a robot car with eyes and line sensors.

    1. A DC motor on a driver: speed and directionTwo gear motors on an L298N: why a pin cannot run a motor, two inputs for direction, PWM on the enable for speed, and the volts a bipolar driver keeps for itself.
    2. An encoder: measure what the motor really didA gear motor with a Hall encoder on an L9110S pumps an exact dose: count pulses on an interrupt, work out speed from them, and slow down before the mark so it stops on it.
    3. Boss part 1: a car that avoids wallsA 2WD chassis on an L298N with an HC-SR04 on the front: time an ultrasonic echo, turn it into millimeters, and write the look-then-decide loop every robot starts from.
    4. Boss: a robot car with eyes and line sensorsThe finished robot: a 2WD car on a MOSFET DRV8833 with an ultrasonic eye and two TCRT5000 line sensors, run by a four-state machine that hunts, charges and never drives off the edge.
    Every lesson in the course
  2. Step 2 路 3 lessons 路 2 h

    Build a balance bot

    Feedback control on two wheels.

    Three lessons on a two-wheel self-balancing robot: read its tilt, see what the wheels do to it, and write the PID that stands it up.

    Every lesson in the course
  3. Step 3 路 4 lessons 路 4 h

    Mars rover

    A Mars rover that drives, sees hazards and runs a mission.

    Drive by counting wheel slots, see hazards, do the science, then send your rover on a full mission.

    Every lesson in the course
Keep going

Guides and tools on the same subject

Track

Robotics track

Motors, servos, sensors and PID control loops, then a rover, a claw machine and a balance bot, every lesson checked on a simulated board.

See the whole track
Questions

Questions people ask

Can I learn robotics without a robot kit?

Yes. The robots run in the simulator with their motors, sensors and physics, and the same code runs on real parts later.

What should I learn before robotics?

A little Arduino. Embedded on the Arduino Uno covers pins, timing and analog readings, which is everything the first robotics lessons assume.

Is there a robotics course for teachers?

Yes. The robotics lesson plans page has ready units for middle and high school built on the same lessons.