Greetings, robot enthusiasts!
I’m part of a group of robotics students that is trying to build the “ultimate robotics curriculum” designed to take a middle schooler with no prior experience, and train them in such a way that by high school graduation, they have a base set of skills that best prepares them for a future in robotics, or the technical workforce in general. We also need this curriculum to be as inexpensive as possible, even if that involves combining different systems on the same robot.
Here’s the progression that we’re brainstorming on right now….
Control System
VEX IQ → Arduino → RaspberryPi
Build System
VEX IQ → VEX EDR/Actobotics → Found parts
(with CAD used to 3D print/laser cut custom parts throughout)
CAD Software
TinkerCAD (or platform of similar difficulty level) → Autodesk Inventor → Fusion 360
Coding Languages
Modkit → RobotC → Arduino → Python/C++ with implementation of Robot Operating System (ROS)
Other important skills that would be integrated
- Familiar with ROS
- Familiar with using Linux as primary OS (specifically Ubuntu)
- Can use Git/Github for source control
- Can solder circuit boards and read schematic diagrams
We’re really interested in what experienced roboteurs think about this progression. What would you change or add? Are there important foundational technical skills that we’re missing?
Thanks for the help!