VEX ROBOTICS DESIGN SYSTEM

VEX ROBOTICS DESIGN SYSTEM HOME

Teacher Instructions

Lesson 1: The Orchard Challenge

Objectives: At the end of this unit, students will be able to:

Understand the motivations for and arguments for and against the automation of agricultural processes in the United States.

Present an effective proposal to a client in order to procure support for future development.

Materials:

The Orchard Challenge Student Reproducible (PDF)
Organizing Research Student Reproducible (PDF)

Lesson Overview: Students will take the role of consultant-developers from an automation company who are investigating whether a client in the agricultural-supply business should invest in developing automation systems that use robotic devices for its pesticide-sprayer fleet. Students must research the topic and deliver a presentation and proposal to the client for further development.

Students will develop a robot, in four iterations, that will be able to navigate an apple orchard successfully using progressively more parts and layers of function.


NATIONAL STANDARDS AND BENCHMARKS
STANDARDS ADDRESSED 9-12 BENCHMARKS
  1. The characteristics and scope of technology
  1. The nature and development of technological knowledge and processes are functions of the setting.
  2. The rate of technological development and diffusion is increasing rapidly.
  3. Inventions and innovations are the results of specific, goal-directed research.
  4. Most development of technologies is driven by the profit motive and the market.
  1. The cultural, social, economic, and political effects of technology
  1. Making decisions about the use of technology involves weighing the trade-offs between the positive and negative effects.
  1. The effects of technology on the environment
  1. Humans devise technologies to reduce the negative consequences of other technologies.
  1. The role of society in the development and use of technology
  1. The decision whether to develop a technology is infused by societal opinions and demands, in addition to corporate cultures.
  1. The history of technology
  1. Most technological development has been evolutionary, the result of a series of refinements to a basic invention.
  1. Throughout history, technology has been a powerful force in reshaping the social, cultural, political, and economic landscape.
  1. Agricultural and related biotechnologies
  1. Agriculture includes a combination of businesses that use a wide array of products and systems to produce, process, and distribute food, fiber, fuel, chemical, and other useful products.
  1. Information and communication technologies
  1. Information and communication systems can be used to inform, persuade, entertain, control, manage, and educate.
  1. There are many ways to communicate information, such as graphic and electronic means.
  2. Technological knowledge and processes are communicated using symbols, measurement, conventions, icons, graphic images, and languages that incorporate a variety of visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli.
  1. Manufacturing technologies
  1. Marketing involves establishing a product's identity, conduction research on its potential, advertising it, distributing it, and selling it.
Source: ITEA (International Technology Education Association)

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Photo: © courtesy of RadioShack

STUDENT CONTEST!
Teachers, encourage your students to write an essay on how robots improve the fields of science, manufacturing, or safety.

To get started, distribute this contest entry page (PDF) and contest entry form (PDF).

Students Have A Chance to Win
  • Vex Robotics Design System Starter Kit and choice of three accessory kits
  • Robotics-themed book
Teachers Have A Chance to Win
  • Vex Robotics Design System Starter Kit
  • Robotics-themed library book set
Classrooms Have A Chance to Win
  • Wireless computer mouse
  • Robotics-themed book
Entries must be postmarked by November 14, 2005.