Mr. Pirelli suggested that it would be valuable to have the students develop strategies for programing the robot to travel a specified distance. To facilitate this, Hollingshead developed a design we call the Straight Runner pictured at the top of this article. For this activity, the groups all construct the same robot and run contests for which programming is the only variable. Each group was given only the parts required for this project. Rail Assembly - note that the motor unit is tied to the rails both top and bottom.
Students often design robots in which the motors fall off the first time the device hits something.
Front Wheel Assembly - this device is designed to move forward and backward in a straight line. The initial program for the Straight Runner has only four Command Blocks. This should be loaded as program 3. Similar programs should be loaded as programs 4 and 5. The difference is in the 4th Command Block.