؜Sprint Brief

You will design and build playful bots that come alive through mechanisms. Your bots will enter the arena to race, push, battle, or team up in fun and unexpected ways. Through hands-on experimentation, you’ll explore how to create motion, interaction, and personality—transforming simple mechanisms into lively bots that compete and play games together.

WHAT WE ARE DOING

WHY WE ARE DOING IT

Design and build creative machines that battle, race, or challenge each other in game-like arenas

You will learn how motion and mechanics can turn simple designs into bots that compete, push, and play games together.

Final Project Expectations

The final project can include a motor-powered mechanism that controls movement—pushing, racing, or battling against other bots through creative motion. Otherwise, you need to include manual mechanical designs.

Students will custom-design the structure of their bots and ensure each machine can move and compete in the arena.

Each bot will include a playful or competitive element, such as completing a challenge, defending a zone, or outlasting opponents in a series of fun arena games..

+

+

+

Sprint Steps

A good example of signals are "the launch of chatGPT" or "the fall of the iconic tunnel tree redwood" and good examples of drivers would be "artificial intelligence" or "climate change"

Then, identify signals (glimpses of the future we already see today) and drivers (what made the signal possible)



~15 min

؜Documentation

Take good photos of your work and videos ad well!

؜Brainstorm ideas and sketch your bot movement in three frames. Create the blue print drawings that will help you build your mechanism & Draw how your arena will look like.

Conceptualization

Bring your prototype sketch to life by building a cardboard model that recreates your movement.

Model Making

2

3

~60 min

~ 180 min

~ 10 min

1

Form groups of 4 & Look at past examples to get inspired

Precedent Research

4

Week 10

Week 11-12-13-15

5

Competetion

~ 50 min

؜Head to the Arena to compete! Group competition!

Week 16

Week 10 -11

ACTIVITY MATERIALS

Week 10-11

A precedent is a real-world example or project that you can research to better understand ideas related to your work.

Precedent Research

1.

؜Form a group of 4! This is your group for the whole sprint.

Go to the toolbox folder and you will find a library of various battle bots

Select 1 projects and answer the following questions on a sheet of paper:

What is the primary function of the bot?

In what ways do you find the bot innovative or creative?

Can you identify any unique materials or technologies used in the machine?

In brainstorming, students collectively generate ideas that will shape the concepts for their group projects. They typically begin by listing ideas individually, then come together to share and discuss them using a pin-up brainstorming board filled with writing, drawings, Post-it notes, and lively conversation.

Conceptualization

A. Select one game challenge to design for !

1.Ball Launch Challenge: Bots use mechanisms to shoot or roll a ball into a target zone or bucket. Points for accuracy or distance.

2.Block Knockdown: Bots use a lever, arm, or spinning mechanism to knock down stacked blocks in an opponent’s zone.

3.Ping-Pong Ping: Bots flick or launch ping-pong balls into moving targets or small baskets. Use different angles, speeds, or “moving targets” on the arena.

4.Catapult Battle: Bots fling small soft objects at an opponent’s target (like knocking over a cone or ball).

Variation: Give each bot a limited number of “shots” to score points before the round ends.

You can think of one outside that list!

2.

Sketching in design thinking is a quick and visual way to explore, communicate, and develop ideas. It helps designers think through problems, test concepts, and share their thoughts with others—without needing polished drawings. Sketches can be rough, but they’re powerful tools for brainstorming, prototyping, and collaboration.

Conceptualization

؜2.

؜Team Battle Bot Design & Strategy

As a team of four, we'll split into two pairs, and each pair will design a bot. The goal is to maximize our chances of winning and minimize losses.

Also, as a team, make a list of the components you’ll need to build your battle arena — think about the walls, boundaries, obstacles, decorations, or any special features that will make the arena exciting and functional.

Conceptualization

؜2.

B. Sketching

Frame 1: Show the parts: the base structure, moving mechanisms, and any tools or arms used to push, launch, or interact with objects.

Frame 2: In Action

Draw your bot in the arena during the game. Show which parts are moving, how your bot propels or interacts with objects, and how it competes with other bots.

Frame 3: The Result / Impact

Draw or show the outcome of your bot’s action—objects it moved, targets it hit, blocks it knocked down, or balls it launched.

How to Diagram

• Use multiple sketches in sequence
• Use arrows and text to explain
• Use different views (top, side, etc.)

ACTIVITY MATERIALS

Cardboard

Paint Brushes

Bristol Papers

Zip-ties

Straws

Metal Ruler

Pencil

Markers

Cutting Blade

Masking Tape

Hot Glue Gun

String

Brads

Popsicles and wooden skewers

All weeks

Prototyping is the process of turning your sketches and ideas into physical models that you can test and improve. It starts with drawing your concept, then building simple versions using materials to explore how it moves or works. Prototyping helps you test mechanisms (how parts move or connect) and kinetics (how motion happens), so you can find what works and what needs fixing.

Model Making

3.

You will first select 1–2 mechanisms that your bot will use to compete in the arena. Then you will recreate these mechanisms using lo-fi materials.

For example:

1. Rotating Spinner – A spinning part that can push, bump, or knock over objects in the arena.
2. Pushing Arm / Ram -A straight arm that extends or swings forward to push objects or other bots (scissor lift)
3. Catapult / Launcher - A spring-loaded or lever-based mechanism to fling balls, blocks, or small items toward targets.
4. Claw or Grabber - A simple claw that opens and closes to pick up objects and move them to a target zone.
5. ؜Pendulum / Swinging Arm - A swinging piece that hits or knocks over objects in its path repeatedly.
6. Launcher with Elastic Band - Use rubber bands to store energy and release it to propel objects quickly.

Find all the resources for basic prototyping techniques and mechanisms in the toolbox!

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: SHAPING

Bending

Scoring

Curving

Faceting

Layering

Hinging

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: JOINERY

Brads

Flanges

Brace

Skewer

Bend

Hinge

Slots

Butt Joint

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: Mechanism

Gears

Scissor lift

Grabbing

Waving

Tentacle

Curving

Cam & Follower

Crank & Slider

Student Examples

Student Examples

Document your work!

4.

Take a photo and record a video of your project moving and turn it into a gif.

؜

؜

؜Battle Arena

5.

End of Challenge!