2.3 Automated Systems
Automation is the use of technology to ease human labor or to extend the mental or physical capabilities of humans. To have an automated system means to make the process "automatic". In this unit you are going to learn how to program a robot to accomplish several tasks. A computer program is a set of coded instructions the robot must follow. Computer programs are written for both computers/robots and humans to read. We will be using behavior based programming, which simply means we will be programming the way that the robot behaves (what it does). To help you write your programs you will learn how to write pseudocode. Pseudocode is your plan or your outline of your program. You write your pseudocode as a pre-write activity before you actually code your robot. Think of this as your rough draft. Lastly, you are also going to learn how to Troubleshoot. Troubleshooting (also known as debugging) is the process of locating a problem and then solving it. While working with your robots you are going to have problems both with your physical robot and your computer program. You are going to learn, how to check for problems, and then solve them on your own. As a resource, there is a page called Troubleshooting for common problems with the robots and how to fix them. You can go to that page by clicking here.
How This Unit Works
This unit consists several programming challenges, each one building on principals learned from the last project. This is designed for you to be able to learn everything you need to from this website. You need to watch each video, and complete the tasks as the video completes each task. Often, the video will end with a challenge. You will then have to complete the challenge, and then turn that challenge into Google Classroom. See the video below for further explanation, and then continue on to Understanding Programming.