VEX Robotics in Engineering Online Course

• Author:
• Subject: Science and Technology
• Institution Name: Robotics Alliance Project
• Collection: NASA
• Grade Level: Secondary

• Abstract: Welcome to the online Robotics Alliance Project VEX Course. This course has rolling admission and enables students to complete it during the course of a school session. By completing this course, you will be eligible to receive 3 units of high school credit. This is provided through the Santa Clara County Office, Regional Occupational Program* (ROP). Students outside of this district will need to contact their individual school administration regarding the application of this credit to their academic transcript. All students will earn a Pass/Fail grade. At the successful completion of the course and the exams, you or your high school will receive a letter of completion from ROP. Homeschool students welcome.
  
  Students will build a small robot based on a controller similar to the one used in FIRST Robotics competitions. Fast Intro to C programming. Concepts on working with a micro controller, map inputs to outputs, read sensor input. Discussion of DC PM motor torque-speed current characteristics, encoders, current protection and open/closed loop control. Discussion of common mechanical design issues such as tradeoffs between tolerance, backlash, stiffness, weight, precision, and speed vs torque.
  
  The course is divided into five main video sections, to be viewed at your own pace. Each session includes a concepts lecture, guest lecture from engineers at NASA, and a laboratory section during which you will build different models of VEX robots.
  
  *Students that are within the California, Palo Alto Unified School District, Fremont Union High School District, and the Mountain View-Los Gatos District will automatically receive 3 units of credit for this course.

• Course Type: Full Course
• Languages: English
• Material Types: Activities and Labs, Lecture Notes, Readings, Video Lectures
• Media Formats: Text/HTML, Downloadable docs, Video

• Conditions of Use: Public Domain

  NASA still images; audio files; video; and computer files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format, generally are not copyrighted. You may use NASA imagery, video, audio, and data files used for the rendition of 3-dimensional models for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations, and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages.