Video tutorials -

• FIRST LEGO League

This is one of the last tutorials in the LEGO Education SPIKE Prime programming for Competitions course and it demonstrates what we've all been waiting for - how to reach a mission model from base in a reliable and consistent way when the mission model is on the other end of the field. Naturally what we use are all the different concepts that we've learned in the course and the tutorial is more advanced than the other so if anything is not clear take a look also at the different tutorials an concepts in the course.

Think of an attachment that leaves the Gecko on the mission model. Don't use the robot attachment that we already have. Just the box robot and the gecko. Nothing should support the Gecko when it is hanged on the mission model. 

This animation demonstrate the use of an LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor attachment to lift a lever of a mission model. The mission model is the Power Switch mission model where you have to move the lever from one side of the mission model to another. The principle of the attachment is powerful and easy to implement for all kinds of missions.

In this tutorial, we add another mission to our current program. This mission is - hanging the Gecko from the FIRST LEGO League Animal Allies. 

In this video tutorial we demonstrate an attachment that can accomplish Drop missions. A drop mission is when you have to move on the FIRST LEGO League field with the robot, reach a mission model, and drop a part in this mission model. First time we saw such missions I think was in FLL 2013. The attachment, the robot and the mission model could be build from a single LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor 51515 set. The mechanism for dropping works by releasing a lever when the attachment is pushed against the mission model. Check them out.

This video tutorial contains a detailed explanation on how we accomplish the FIRST LEGO League 2018-2019 Into Orbit mission called M08. AEROBIC EXERCISE. This again is a very interesting mission from the competition. We could learn a lot of basic principles in the field of robotics. This mission requires the robot do to something very fast and many times. 

The Load Cargo mission model could be accomplished by loading a cargo in a number of mission models on the FIRST LEGO League 2021-2022 Cargo Connect field. In this video tutorial, we load the cargo on the platooning trucks. In the previous one, we load it on the trains.

Programming the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor for FIRST LEGO League competitions involves learning how to turn left and right with the robot. There are not precise turns. The robot will make mistakes, because that's what robots do. But nevertheless it is important to learn how to program the robot to turn. We are releasing an additional course that is focused only on programming and how to make the robot consistent in its behavior, but in this tutorial we stop on turning

In this video tutorial we would look at the mission run for M05. EXTRACTION. The mission is to collect and return to base a number of objects that are located on the field. Initially when I first saw the mission I thought it wold be quite challenging to accomplish it, but at the end it is not that difficult. 

In the course section for Advance Sensor Calibration we previously showed you how to find the minimum and maximum value for a single LEGO Mindstorms Color Sensor and to store this value in an array. The program was implemented with the EV3-G software. In this tutorial we are going to find the Min and Max for all the four sensors and to store all the 8 values in an array.

In this video tutorial we look at Vertical Lift Attachments. The attachment, the root and the mission model are all build from LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor 51515 set. We've found that vertical lift attachments that could lift missions models vertically could be quite useful for FIRST LEGO League competitions. This attachment is one of the more complex attachments and some say it has an "eye opening" mechanism as you can learn so much from it. It uses gear wheels and two levers connected to those gear wheels to lift a part vertically.

In this video tutorial with LEGO SPIKE Prime we accomplish M02 Oil Platform from the FIRST LEGO League 2022-2023 SUPER POWERED robotics competition. We use the Kriket box robot and an attachment that allows us to lift. The actions of the mission is between Lift and Push, be because it is vertical.. we choose Lift. Checkout the full tutorial for all the 3 missions in a single run.

Here is the task for adding a beam on both sides of every gear wheel in your attachment.

Implement a program for stopping at a black line with the blocks containing the implementation details for the InitArray, Calibration and Getting the calibrated result. 

Experiment with changing the orientation and direction of gear wheels. Here are part of the tasks that you should complete before moving forward with the course.

This is a live video tutorial of an inertia triggered attachment build with LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor. The attachment, the robot and the mission model are all built from a single 51515 set. The cool thing about inertia triggered attachments is that they are active and are activated without the use of any motors which means that you have the motors for the other missions at FIRST LEGO League competitions. In the tutorial we demonstrate and explain how such attachments works and how they could be used.

This video tutorials shows how we accomplish a specific mission model from FIRST LEGO League 2022-2023 SUPER POWERED robotics competition. The mission is called - M11 Hydroelectic Dam and in the tutorial we accomplish part of it. In other tutorials when we get back with the SPIKE Kriket box robot we have more time to accomplish the rest of the missions.

This video tutorial had a different idea than what we recorded. We planned for a push/pull attachment as we've shown such attachments for LEGO Education SPIKE PRIME and LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3. However, the issues with LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor set 51515 is that we could not figure out an easy way to build a push pull attachment that meets our criteria for an attachment. Because of this we made a slight modification on the idea and it is again push/pull attachment but not moving in a line but in a circle - circular movement.

In this video tutorial we show how you can build robots that position on the field consistently and reliably by following and line and then aligning to a line. We also demonstrate the concept of "double align" which is quite powerful and even if there were some mistakes they will be handled.

In this video tutorial we demonstrate how to accomplish M09 of FIRST LEGO League 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE Challenge. The robot is Chain Monster - a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot. It pulls the mission model and precisely positions it in the designated area. An interesting aspect is that the robot must rotate to position the loop correctly, so pay close attention when programming it.

In this video tutorial we demonstrate a really important concept for FIRST LEGO League competitions - you position the robot on the field with depending on timers and rotations. The issue with moving the robot for 10 seconds and then stopping is that every time it is in a different location. Same for rotations. The wheels will slip, the battery will change, something will happen and the robot will not be in the same place every time. This is not consistent and reliable.

We calculate the number of rotatios when a gear system is involved. The driving wheel will have to do a number of rotations for the driven wheel to rotate to a desired number of degrees. In our specific case when the driven gear wheel is rotate to about 90 degrees the legs will lift the robot.

In this video tutorial we try to move forward with a LEGO Mindstorms Robot Inventor robot and we try to keep a straight line using the Motion Sensor. Without entering into the details of the programming we demonstrate what is the behavior of the robot when trying to keep a straight line with the Motion Sensor while we are participating in a FIRST LEGO League competition.

Following the Advance Light/Color sensors calibration for a minimum value for a single sensor tutorial, in this one, we continue with finding the maximum value detected by a sensor and storing this value in an array.

Construct two legs for both sides of the robot. The task for this video is to attach this two legs on both sides and to build a system of gears and axles that power those legs.

In this video tutorial, we demonstrate a full run of all missions without pausing the recording. The competition is the FIRST LEGO League 2023-2024 MASTERPIECE Challenge, and the robot is the Chain Monster - a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot.

These kinds of runs are extremely useful for team preparation right before the competition, as they help team members improve their accuracy, speed, and self-control.

This is a teacher's note about the math behind calculating gear ratios with for our lifting attachment. It math model we build in previous tutorials is not exactly correct and here is the explanation why.