Assessment: EV3 - Flashlight Follower

Assessment Type: 
Challenge

Flashlight Follower

This is a more open-ended challenge that combines the new turning skills with prior learning about the light sensor. Students need to create a robot that will follow a flashlight beam through a lengthy course involving turns in both directions. (Note: the robot must follow the flashlight beam, not just respond (e.g. turn) when the light is shined on it or it hears a sound, etc.)

In addition to the above items, some key learning to watch for is:

  • Writing a program that repeats the same behavior over and over creates a very long program when done with cut-and-paste - students may discover (or you may want to introduce) the infinite loop to repeat a set of commands
  • Reliability and precision of the follower will improve by following the beam on the ground rather than in the air
  • This is an application where the light sensor may work better with the LED turned off (ambient light mode) - this creates a larger contrast between beam and no-beam
  • There will be a trade-off between speed of the robot and ease of control - students will need to find the optimal balance for the minimum time through the course
Education Level: 
Middle School
High School
Focus Subject: 
Mathematics
Robotics Hardware
Robotics Software