Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, High School, Robotics Science Projects (Page 3)

Build a Solar-Tracking Robot

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Light sensors are part of many devices that we use every day. For example, they help your phone know when to automatically brighten or dim the screen based on ambient light levels. They can also be used to help solar panels track the sun, which helps the panels generate more power. Many spacecraft and planetary rovers are solar-powered. In this project you will build and program your own solar-tracking robot. Optionally, you can add solar panels and rechargeable batteries. Can your robot keep… Read more

What's the Best Way to Disable a Drone?

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Drones are small, fast, and maneuverable - this can make them very hard to knock down! Check out this Mark Rober video where he explores both how professional defense companies and some backyard YouTube engineers tackle the problem of knocking drones out of the sky. Can you take this engineering challenge on yourself? What methods can you devise to take down a drone? Which one works the best? Drones can be expensive, and you probably do not want to risk damaging a $1,000 drone for your science… Read more

Build an Autonomous Arduino Robot with Bump Sensors

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Mechanical switches are common in many machines and robots. They can be used to detect when a button is pushed, when a door is open, or a low-speed collision when two objects bump into each other. Switches can act as "bump sensors" on a simple robot to help it detect when it hits an obstacle. The robot can use this information to navigate around obstacles and avoid getting stuck. Can you build and program a robot that can drive around your house while using bump sensors to avoid obstacles? Read more

Build an Arduino Robot

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

The Science Buddies Bluebot Kit contains parts to build four different robots: A motion-activated robot that uses a passive infrared (PIR) sensor A light-tracking robot that uses photoresistors A line-following robot that uses infrared emitter-detectors An obstacle-avoiding robot that uses bump sensors However, in each project, the sensors are hard-wired to control the robot's motors. This allows the robot to steer left and right based on input from two sensors, but it does not allow the… Read more

PID Controller Tuning for a Drone

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Note: to do this project you will need the DIY Mini Drone Kit, available from our partner Home Science Tools®. An Arduino must be purchased separately. The Electronics Kit for Arduino, available from our partner Home Science Tools®, contains the additional parts you will need, including an ultrasonic sensor. The program in the DIY Mini Drone: Arduino™ Altitude Control project uses a proportional controller to control the drone's altitude. A potentiometer is connected to one… Read more

Keep Your Arduino Robot From Falling Off a Cliff

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Humans cannot see infrared light, but robots can! At least, they can when they use special infrared light sensors. These sensors can help robots detect nearby objects to avoid collisions and even help them avoid driving off edges. In this project you will build your own Arduino robot that uses infrared sensors to avoid driving off the edge of a table. Read more

Go, Gadget, Go! Building Robots with LEGO® Mindstorms®

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

In the mid-20th century, people thought of robots as futuristic tools. But in the 21st century, robots are not a figment of our imaginations, but are a part of our reality. Robots even perform tasks that humans can't do. In this engineering science fair project, you will use LEGO Mindstorms to build a robot that is fast, lightweight, and stable. Who knows? You might end up building a robot that does housework or even your homework! Read more

Soft Robots with Built-In LEDs

Science Fair Project Idea

Engineering Design Process

Check out the soft robotic gripper and artificial robotic skin projects. These projects show you how to use flexible silicone rubber to make robots or robotic parts. The second project shows you how to connect external LEDs using an Arduino. The LEDs light up when an embedded piece of conductive fabric stretches. What about embedding LEDs in the silicone rubber? You can do this by embedding the LEDs between layers of silicone (Figure 1). The trick is to solder flexible stranded wires to the… Read more

Eco-Friendly Squishy Robots

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

In our introductory VoxCAD project, you were challenged to use the VoxCAD software to design the fastest possible robot using different materials. However, we did not ask you to think about one big thing — efficiency. It is great to design a robot that is very fast, but what if it also consumes a lot of energy? Engineers must consider this when designing robots in the real world — robots that use more energy to move will drain their batteries faster, which can be a problem. This is… Read more

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, High School, Robotics Science Projects (29 results)

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