🌻 Flower Robot Challenge: Seek the Sun!

🚀 Your Challenge:

Can you build a LEGO robot that acts like a real flower?
Your robot should spin slowly to look for light, then stop when it finds the sun (or anything yellow)!

🌱 What Do Real Flowers Do?

Have you ever noticed how sunflowers turn to face the sun? That’s not just for fun—it’s a real plant behavior called phototropism.

🌞 Phototropism means:

Plants grow or move in response to light.

🌻 Sunflowers face east in the morning and follow the sun during the day.
🌿 The top of the plant grows faster on the shady side, which makes it bend toward light.
💡 Plants need light to make food through a process called photosynthesis.

💬 Fun Fact:

Some flowers stop turning once they’re grown, but younger ones still move every day!

🔧 Robot Build Instructions

You’ll build a flower that:

Spins using a motor
Looks like a flower using bricks and petals
Stops when the color sensor sees yellow or a bright light

🛠️ Step 1: Build the Spinning Base

Build a sturdy base and mount a motor horizontally so it can spin a platform.
Make sure the whole thing doesn’t tip over when spinning!

We used the Twirling Teacups lesson as an introduction to a spinning base.

🪴 Step 2: Make the Stem

Use LEGO beams to make a vertical stem that connects your flower head to the spinning platform.

🌸 Step 3: Create the Flower

Your color sensor becomes the center of the flower.
Decorate it with bright petals—but make sure it can still “see” colors in front of it!

💻 Coding the Robot

Use this basic idea for your code:

forever:
   Spin slowly
   If color sensor sees yellow or a bright light:
       Stop spinning

📹 Watch the example video for how this works:
Watch on YouTube

💡 Tip: You can use "wait until color sensor sees yellow" in your program, or detect brightness using the reflected light sensor mode.

🧪 Test Your Robot

Try these tests:

Shine a flashlight near the sensor. Does it stop?
Place a yellow object in front of it. Does it freeze?
Does it keep spinning if there’s no light or yellow?
Can you make it spin again after it stops?

🎨 Bonus Challenges

Decorate your flower with more petals, leaves, or a bug friend!
Make it change colors using lights when it stops.
Build a garden of robots and see how they all behave together!

📓 Record Your Learning

Use these questions in your science notebook:

Question	Your Answer
What is phototropism?
How does your robot behave like a real flower?
What does the sensor do in your robot?
What did you change during testing?
What would you do differently next time?

🌼 Share Your Build!

Take a photo or video of your robot in action and share it with your class or post with permission!

Mars Mission : Ice Collection Challenge

Mission Brief

You're an astronaut-robotics engineer stationed on Mars Base 7. A massive dust storm has just passed, revealing delicate ice crystals on the red surface. These crystals may hold the key to:

Evidence of past or present life
Essential water resources for future habitats
Fuel production and oxygen for return missions

But there's a problem: the crystals are too fragile to be picked up by normal grabbers. Your mission is to design a rover with a One‑Way Curtain to collect them safely and bring them home.

🎥 Watch the Mission Video

Check out the full mission walkthrough:
https://youtu.be/20_-gqwPFDc

Step 1: Build the One‑Way Curtain

Create a mechanism that lets ice shards pass into the collection basket—but won’t let them fall out.

Use LEGO beams or Axel elements as flaps
They should hang from a Pivot Point
Attach a STOP bar to prevent the flaps from opening the wrong way.
Mount it at the front of your rover
Test: make sure objects slide in—but not back out

Step 2: Build Your Rover

Start with a simple SPIKE Prime drive base:

2-motor driving chassis (wheels or treads)
One‑Way Curtain in front
Collection area big enough for multiple shards

Add sensors, color tiles, or bumpers if you like!

Step 3: Program the Mission

Using SPIKE Prime’s coding interface:

Drive forward to sweep crystals
Turn and repeat to cover the area
Return to the Home Base when done

Tip: Use loop blocks, timers, or sensor-based navigation to make it reliable.

Step 4: Create Ice Shards

Make your own LEGO “ice crystals”:

Translucent 1×1 round tiles or slopes
Light-blue or clear studs
Vary shapes and sizes for more fun

Your Challenge

Build, attach, code, and collect:

MISSION GOALS

Design a rover with a One‑Way Curtain
Collect at least 5 ice shards
Return to Home Base

Document your mission: take photos or videos!

🗣️ Share & Compete

Once your mission is complete, do this:

Comment below the video with your rover’s design and strategy
Like the video if you enjoyed the challenge
Subscribe for more robotics missions
Tag us on social media with your rover—your build might be featured!

VENT Bot Maze Mission

A LEGO Spike Prime Challenge to Save the Mars Base

🚀 Your Mission

The Mars base has lost power. The lights are out. Systems are offline. The only way to reach the life support core is through a maze of narrow vents.
Your job is to build and program a LEGO Spike Prime robot — codenamed VENT Bot — to navigate the maze and save the crew.

Download your printable mission materials:
👉 VENT Bot Mission Tracks Printables (PDF)

💡 Pseudocode Mission Log (PDF)

🧱 What to Build

Begin by laying out a maze with items from home, class, or the printable maze tiles.

Your robot must be compact and precise. Use your LEGO Spike Prime kit to build a robot that can:

Fit in a narrow maze
Drive forward in straight lines
Turn accurately using the internal gyro sensor
(Optional) Use color or distance sensors to detect obstacles

Required components:

2 drive motors (left + right)
Spike hub (with built-in gyro)
Small chassis build with wheels
Wires routed neatly so they don’t get caught in the maze

HINT!

We used the Driving Base 1 building instructions from Competition Ready.

💻 What to Code

You’ll need to:

Measure the length of each maze segment (in centimeters)
Record the angle of each turn using the robot’s yaw angle sensor
Plan your program with pseudocode
Write your code in the Spike app using movement and turn blocks

Example pseudocode:

Move forward 40 cm  
Turn right 90°  
Move forward 20 cm  
Turn left 45°

Use the printable Maze Mapping Log to record each step!

HINT!

Watch this video about using the Gyro Sensor to make precise turns.

📏 Step-by-Step Instructions

Set up your maze using tape, tiles, or printed paths.
Test your robot: Can it move straight and turn consistently?
Use a ruler or tape measure to record distances between turns.
Use the gyro sensor to test turn angles (e.g., 90°, 45°).
Record your pseudocode for the entire maze path.
Translate your plan into a working program in the Spike app.
Test and revise — update your code until the robot can complete the maze!

🎯 Success Criteria

Robot completes the maze without hitting walls
Distances and turns are accurate
Code is organized and based on measured data
You used your pseudocode as a planning tool

🎥 Watch the Full Mission Video

See how the mission begins, how the robot is built and programmed, and how VENT Bot saves the Mars base! Leave us a comment on YouTube if you completed the mission!