Video tutorials

There are a few main challenges with box robots and in the following tutorial we would like to resolve them. Read on and let's see how we could do this. 

For Mission 11: Angler Artifacts in the FIRST LEGO League 2025-2026 UNEARTHED competition, the Smaller Pancake box robot does not simply drive into the model. With the geared Angler Artifacts attachment, it pivots into position, meshes with the mission gears, and raises both the flag and the artifact before heading toward the right base.

It's a box! It's a robot! It's a box robot.  Box robots are very popular on different robotics competitions involving LEGO Mindstorms like the FIRST LEGO League or World Robotics Olympiad. Let's start with a brief introduction and continue in the next videos with explanation on the features of the robot and why such robots are frequently used.

Retrieving the artifact once is satisfying; doing it ten times without touching the supports is the real test. This FIRST LEGO League UNEARTHED season video puts the Smaller Pancake box robot and the Careful Recovery attachment through ten runs of Mission 04.

This video tutorial is part of the series on how to make your robot 100% precise and accurate. We accomplish the Emergency Walk mission 10 out of 10 times. The attachment works. Every time the attachment is started in successfully accomplishes the mission and this is one of the most difficult missions on FIRST LEGO League competitions ever. 

Mission 04 leaves almost no room for a careless approach. In this tutorial for the FLL 2025 UNEARTHED competition, the Smaller Pancake box robot works with the Careful Recovery attachment to enter the mine, close around the artifact, and lift it clear of the fragile supports.

Here is Lintu. It is a marvelous LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Animal robot that looks like Kiwi, the famous New Zealand bird. It is quite rare to see a Kiwi bird in person. But fear not, we've prepare a robot that looks almost exactly like the original.

Can a motor-free mechanism repeat a multi-mission run without adjustments? This 10 out of 10 tutorial follows the Smaller Pancake box robot and the Map Reveal and Mineshaft Explorer attachment through M02 and M03 in the FIRST LEGO League 2025-2026 UNEARTHED competition.

Here we start with a second box robot that we would like to build. It is in a way improvement to the first robot and we would take a look at its features. 

One attachment, two mission models, and a lot happening in only a few seconds. During the FLL UNEARTHED season, the Smaller Pancake box robot uses the M02 and M03 attachment to reveal the map, secure the third topsoil section, and send the minecart to the opposing team's field.

Mission

The robot should park in the parking positioned in the north-east corner of the field.

Scores

At the end of the match the robot is completely in the parking area in the north-east corner of the field: 50 points.

Ten consecutive attempts reveal far more than a single polished run. In this FLL 2025-2026 UNEARTHED competition reliability test, the Smaller Pancake box robot and the Surface Brushing attachment take on Mission 01.

With the shape of a box it is very easy to align this robot to different wall and to add very stable pinless attachments to it. The goal of the video is to discuss this feature of this particular robot construction.

Four jobs are packed into one compact run for Mission 01: Surface Brushing in the FIRST LEGO League 2025-2026 UNEARTHED competition. The Smaller Pancake box robot uses the Surface Brushing attachment to settle against the model, clear both soil deposits, capture the brush, and return to base.

The EV3 Gyro sensor is quite powerful, but there are some little tricks when using it. In the previous episode we showed a hardware solution to the problem and now we are exploring how could the sensor be calibrated from the EV3-G software. Thanks to Sharon and Faye (full names omitted) for the request for this video.

Discover why this solution achieves a perfect 10 out of 10 successful runs in the FIRST LEGO League 2025-2026 UNEARTHED competition. Using the Smaller Pancake box robot together with this passive attachment, we analyze the design choices that make the completion of Mission 15: Site Marking and Mission 12: Salvage Operation remarkably consistent.

The second construction of the series along with a comparison with the first construction. The new robot requires more parts, but has a few more advantages. 

Learn how to complete Mission 15: Site Marking and Mission 12: Salvage Operation in the FIRST LEGO League 2025-2026 UNEARTHED competition using the Smaller Pancake box robot and this passive attachment.

Many teams are having troubles with the EV3 Gyro Sensor and its drift. In this video we are showing one way to fix this behaviour and get an accurate measurement from the sensor. 

Here you can find a cheat sheet with the most commonly used commands. There are also more advanced commands that are not included in the built-in API, but the available ones cover most, if not all, of the students’ needs.

Below is an example of a function definition and how to read it:

Let’s take a closer look at the function definition:

The parameters before the "*" symbol are required parameters. You must provide them in the correct order. For example, the first parameter is "pair", so the command expects the motor pair first. The same applies to "degrees" and "steering".

The parameters after the "*" symbol are optional parameters. To change them, you must use their names. This means you cannot just write a number - you need to specify which parameter you are changing. For example:

motor_pair.move_for_degrees(motor_pair.PAIR_1, 360, 0, velocity=280)

Finally, the "Awaitable" keyword means that this command can be used with "await". This allows the program to wait until the command has finished before continuing with the next one. For example:

await motor_pair.move_for_degrees(motor_pair.PAIR_1, 360, 0, velocity=280)

Five different robot chassis. This is the goal of the series. To present ideas for different design of the robots and especially the robot bases. If the base is stable and balanced, then in could easily be extended. Let's start with the most simple of the five. 

In this course, you will work with other students in your group. These may be your classmates, teammates, or students you know from other activities. It is important to get to know your group so you can work well together.

Get to know your teacher

Your teacher will introduce themselves first, and then you will get to know the other students in the group.

Remember your teacher’s name and address them by name.

Listen to others

Listen carefully to your classmates and pay attention to what they share. Show the same respect that you would like to receive.

Each student should share:

• their name;

• their age;

• their grade;

• the school they attend;

• their favorite sport, hobby, or activity.

Share a short story

If your teacher allows it, you can also share a short story or something special you have done - for example, “I’ve done something you may not have done, which is…”.

We should how to build a frame that could hold the attachments for specific competition missions. This frame is added in a pinless manner. This means very fast and easy without any glitches of the pins.

In this tutorial we present a way to align your robot to a black line. Go through common difficulties, that the teams face, when they need to align their robot, and provide a solution for them.

In this first part we stop at an algorithm that is the base for following lines and explains the basic idea for the proportion. A must watch if you want to understand the robot at its behaviour. At the end the program still wont work so check out Part 2 and Part 3 for the final steps.  

In this video we discuss how do we transfer power from the motors that are "inside the robot box" to the gear wheels that are "outside the robot box".