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Search-and-Rescue Robot Course

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Grades 6-875-90 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Teams program a simple rolling robot to navigate a mock disaster course, then adapt its code on the fly when obstacles shift mid-mission.

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Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Prep: 15 minActivity: 45 min1 session~$3/groupOne table or a clear section of floorBeginner-friendly

Setup

Print or hand-copy the essential prompt for Search-and-Rescue Robot Course, then set out only paper, pencils, and the common or recycled items needed for one test. Use a tabletop representation whenever the original version mentions a room, specialized device, or digital tool; the learning comes from the decisions and evidence, not elaborate scenery.

Activity

  1. Define the central success test in Search-and-Rescue Robot Course and make a paper planning sheet for the inputs, actions, and expected result.
  2. Represent the system without electronics by using labeled cards, paper controls, tokens, a ruler, or a student acting as the device; follow the same cause-and-effect rules described in the project.
  3. Run at least three cases, including one difficult or unexpected case, and record input examples, operating rules, predicted outputs, and actual outputs.
  4. Revise one rule, layout, mechanism, or decision after the failed case, repeat it, and explain with the recorded evidence whether the change worked.

Done when: The group has completed Search-and-Rescue Robot Course when it can run the final rescue mission for an audience and report how many survivors the robot found and point to the observation, measurement, comparison, or trial that supports its conclusion.

Materials

programmable robot kit, cardboard for obstacles, tape for course lines, small figures as survivors

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Disclosure: Materials links below go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Steps

  1. Study the course layout and predict the path the robot should take to find all the survivors fastest.
  2. Program the robot's route and test it once on the clear course.
  3. Shift an obstacle on the course to simulate rubble moving, find the robot's original code fails to adapt, and rewrite the code to sense and reroute around it.
  4. Run the final rescue mission for an audience and report how many survivors the robot found.