By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Students in Dan Burnham’s Coding II class are operating in high gear.
Four teams of Union City High School juniors and seniors recently built Lego robot race cars to compete against one another in a unique project that combines both math and physics with coding.
Students first built, then programmed the cars with the assistance of laptop programs written especially for the project. Each robot had motors on each side – one actually with four. Sensors were also used, with automation additionally part of each car’s motoring and direction equation.
As part of the assignment, the teams were collectively challenged with programming language that steered the cars on a straight line – rather than veering off-path. Specific calculations also had to be made to figure the RPM of each motor.
The first in a series of races on a 32-foot track was held in the high school gymnasium under the watchful eyes of Burnham and UCHS Principal Jacob Cross among other interested onlookers, with Cross serving as the official starter for the races.
In another facet of the project later, new codes must be written and applied for competition, where the cars will make turns around specifically placed cones.
There’s a project manager for each team and the winning team in each race will earn extra credit points for their efforts.
Burnham, who also teaches another chapter of coding, computer science and is a system-wide IT assistant, has watched with joy as 15 students have showcased their individual creative juices and combined them with teamwork with others.
“It was really neat to watch the kids work together on this and see them make adjustments by using the things they’d learned in class,” Burnham said. “They had to integrate physics and math, and all their calculations had to be in order to get the robots to take the paths they wanted to.
“You could almost see the wheels turning inside their heads as they were making changes. I’m proud of them all for the work they’ve already done, and the work they’re going to continue to do.”