Day 1: Rover Training
STEP 1: Welcome, Lunar explorers! As the first group of space campers to arrive at the Lunar Exploration mission training, your special task is to build the robotic moon rover that your team will use on the Moon. Follow these steps:
- Go to the rover programming site here.
- Choose “Spike Prime” as your robot type.
- Click “Build” in the left-hand menu.
- Select and follow the instructions to build Drive Base 1 (see image below)
- Stop before adding any sensors.
- Next, look at the instructions for Drive Base 2 and Drive Base 3 to add the following sensors to your Drive Base 1 rover:
- Distance Sensor (to detect how far away objects are)
- Force Sensor (to sense bumps or obstacles)
- Color Sensor (to detect light and colors)
- Use the images and arrows below to help identify and install each sensor correctly.
These sensors are essential—they let your rover see, feel, and respond to the environment, just like a real exploration robot.
STEP 2: Before we can explore the Moon, you must first become familiar with your rover—how it works, and how to properly program it to perform the tasks needed during your exploration. With your team, click “Start” on the menu to the left and complete Tutorial Activities 1–6 (see images below for reference). These activities will guide you through loading code and testing the key sensors your rover will use during its missions. It’s essential to understand what your sensors are capable of before beginning your journey.
STEP 3: Now that you’ve gotten to know the basic parts of your rover, your challenge is to combine the skills you learned in Tutorials 1–6 to create and run your own simple rover program. It can be anything you want, but it should incorporate skills from at least three of the six tutorials above. Once you have successfully implemented your program, record a video of your rover in action and upload using the QR code below. In the “Subject” area, include your first name and/or your team members’ names. Click here to see all uploaded videos.
