Robotics: interactive experiments

6 robotics experiments from grade 5 to grade 7: Electronics basics, Microcontrollers. Every topic in a real-life situation — experiment, theory, missions and…

Sections

Electronics basics

Current, voltage, resistance, LED, capacitor, transistor — on a breadboard

The electric circuit: a torch — Grades 5–6. A switch, a battery, a bulb: when does current flow? Does a nail conduct, and what about a ruler?
Breadboard: rows — Grades 5–6. The LED lights in one hole but not in the next one — how are the holes connected inside the board?
LED and resistor: Ohm’s law — Grade 7. Why does an LED with no resistor flash and die? Which resistor is needed?
Resistors: the colour code — Grade 7. Which resistor in the box is 470 Ω? Read the bands and check with a multimeter.
Voltage divider and potentiometer — Grade 7. When you turn the knob of a desk lamp it dims — how is the voltage divided?

Microcontrollers

Arduino Uno, ESP32: assembling the board, pins, first programs

Arduino Uno: the first program — Grade 7. Build the board yourself, plug in the USB, upload Blink — and what is the secret of pin 13?