Overview
The Visionary track propels experienced Robonauts into a real‑world engineering studio, where imagination meets rigorous design. Over twelve immersive weeks, Grades 8–11 students move beyond guided builds to conceive, prototype, and refine original autonomous systems—drones that map indoor spaces, swarm rovers that coordinate via mesh networks, or AI‑enhanced devices that react to their environment. Mentored by university researchers and industry engineers, Visionaries learn to translate big ideas into deployable tech while honing leadership, presentation, and project‑management skills that set them apart on college and scholarship applications.
Program Details
Students meet once a week for a focused, in‑person, one‑hour lab—ideal for busy high‑school schedules. Each session is capped at about 10 students, ensuring close mentorship and plenty of bench time for every Visionary. We supply nearly everything they need: a microcontroller board, simple DC motors, light sensors, wheels, and assorted hardware so teams can jump straight into prototyping without a shopping list. Over the 12‑week sequence they progress from fundamentals (sensor calibration, motor control) to integrating AI decision logic and presenting a polished demo, all while building a portfolio‑ready project they can take home or iterate on long after the course ends.
Your Visionary will learn…
Foundational Build & Core Systems
Week 1: Unbox kits, set lab norms, and sketch the mission‑bot system diagram.
Week 2: Wire safe power and flash a heartbeat “blinky” program to the microcontroller.
Week 3: Program PWM motor control and drive the chassis through a figure‑eight.
Week 4: Calibrate light sensors and code basic line detection.
Control Loops & Autonomy
Week 5: Implement proportional line‑following and measure lap performance.
Week 6: Build a three‑state finite‑state machine to handle seek, follow, and stop.
Week 7: Integrate a distance sensor for obstacle halt or avoidance logic.
Week 8: Log sensor and state data to CSV and visualize trends for debugging.
Optimize and Showcase
Week 9: Tune behaviors using logged data and optional lightweight AI weighting.
Week 10: Add simple bot‑to‑bot or beacon communication for cooperative actions.
Week 11: Harden wiring, finalize code, and rehearse presentations.
Week 12: Run the timed mission course and deliver a portfolio‑ready demo to guests.
