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Robotics & Embodied AI

AI in the physical world — robots, drones, autonomous vehicles.

Elementary

Meet the Robots

What makes a machine a robot? Kids meet robots of every shape and size and learn that a robot is a machine with a body that can sense, think, and act.

  1. 1What Is a Robot?
  2. 2Robots Are Not Magic
  3. 3Robot Bodies
  4. 4Robots Big and Small
  5. 5Robots at Home
  6. 6Robots at Work
  7. 7Robots in Hard Places
  8. 8What Makes a Robot a Robot?
  9. 9Robot Sorting Game
  10. 10A World of Robots

How Robots Sense

Robots feel the world through sensors. Kids explore robot eyes, ears, touch, and distance sensing — and learn how senses guide what a robot does.

  1. 1Robot Senses
  2. 2Robot Eyes
  3. 3Robot Ears
  4. 4Robot Touch
  5. 5Sensing Distance
  6. 6Sensing Where You Are
  7. 7When Senses Are Tricky
  8. 8Putting Senses Together
  9. 9Be a Robot Sensor
  10. 10Senses Help Robots

How Robots Move

Robots move with wheels, legs, arms, and motors. Kids learn how robots travel, grab, balance, and move carefully without bumping.

  1. 1Robots in Motion
  2. 2Wheels, Legs, and Tracks
  3. 3Robot Arms
  4. 4Robot Hands and Grippers
  5. 5Motors Make It Move
  6. 6Balancing and Falling
  7. 7Gentle or Strong
  8. 8Moving Without Bumping
  9. 9Build-a-Mover
  10. 10Robots on the Go
  11. 11Lab: Robot Commander

Robots That Think

Every robot has a brain — a program that decides what to do. Kids learn how robots follow steps, make choices, learn, and put sensing, thinking, and acting together.

  1. 1A Robot's Brain
  2. 2Robots Follow Programs
  3. 3If This, Then That
  4. 4Robots Make Choices
  5. 5Robots Can Learn
  6. 6When Robots Get It Wrong
  7. 7Smarter and Simpler Robots
  8. 8Sense, Think, Act
  9. 9Program a Robot Friend
  10. 10Thinking Robots

Robots and People

Robots and people work best together. Kids learn robot safety, what robots can and cannot do, and that people are always in charge.

  1. 1Robots Are Helpers
  2. 2Working Side by Side
  3. 3Robot Safety Rules
  4. 4Using Robots Kindly
  5. 5Robots Can''t Do Everything
  6. 6People Are in Charge
  7. 7Robots of the Future
  8. 8Could You Build a Robot?
  9. 9Design Your Dream Robot
  10. 10You and Robots

Capstone Project: Build a Cardboard Robot

Design a robot and plan its senses, movements, and brain.

  1. 1Project: Build a Cardboard Robot

Middle

Anatomy of a Robot

A robot is a system of parts working together. Students dissect sensors, actuators, controller, power, and frame, and see how they integrate.

  1. 1The Robot as a System
  2. 2Sensors: A Robot's Inputs
  3. 3Actuators: A Robot's Outputs
  4. 4The Controller: A Robot's Brain
  5. 5Power and Energy
  6. 6The Body and Frame
  7. 7Degrees of Freedom
  8. 8Putting the System Together
  9. 9Dissect a Robot
  10. 10Module Check: The Robot as a System

Sensing and Perception

Raw sensor data is not understanding. Students explore computer vision, depth sensing, localization, mapping, and sensor fusion — how robots perceive.

  1. 1From Sensing to Perception
  2. 2Cameras and Computer Vision
  3. 3Depth and 3D Sensing
  4. 4Touch, Force, and Proprioception
  5. 5Localization: Where Am I?
  6. 6Mapping the Environment
  7. 7Sensor Fusion
  8. 8When Perception Fails
  9. 9Build a Perception Pipeline
  10. 10Module Check: Making Sense of the World
  11. 11Lab: Robot Senses

Movement and Control

Precise movement is hard. Students learn actuators, kinematics, open- and closed-loop control, feedback, locomotion, and manipulation.

  1. 1Making a Robot Move
  2. 2Motors and Servos
  3. 3Joints and Kinematics
  4. 4Open Loop vs. Closed Loop
  5. 5Feedback Control
  6. 6Walking, Rolling, Flying, Swimming
  7. 7Balance and Stability
  8. 8Grasping and Manipulation
  9. 9Tune a Control Loop
  10. 10Module Check: Precise Movement

Robot Intelligence and Autonomy

How does a robot decide? Students study the perceive-plan-act cycle, path planning, autonomy levels, learning robots, and handling the unexpected.

  1. 1The Perceive-Plan-Act Cycle
  2. 2Planning a Path
  3. 3Making Decisions Under Uncertainty
  4. 4Levels of Autonomy
  5. 5Robots That Learn
  6. 6Reacting vs. Deliberating
  7. 7Handling the Unexpected
  8. 8Simulation and Testing
  9. 9Design an Autonomous Behavior
  10. 10Module Check: How Robots Decide

Robots in the Real World

Robots live among people. Students examine applications, human-robot interaction, safety, ethics, the impact on jobs, and the future of robotics.

  1. 1Robots Among Us
  2. 2Robots That Work With People
  3. 3Human-Robot Interaction
  4. 4Robot Safety
  5. 5Robots and Jobs
  6. 6The Ethics of Robots
  7. 7Robots in Space and Disaster Zones
  8. 8The Future of Robotics
  9. 9Robot Impact Report
  10. 10Module Check: Robots and Society

Capstone Project: Program a Robot Routine

Design a sense–plan–act routine that completes a real task.

  1. 1Project: Program a Robot Routine

High School

Robot Systems Engineering

A robot is an integrated engineered system. Students study sensors, actuation, computation, mechanics, real-time constraints, reliability, and systems tradeoffs.

  1. 1The Robot as an Engineered System
  2. 2Sensors and Signal Processing
  3. 3Actuation and Power Systems
  4. 4Computation and the Software Stack
  5. 5Mechanical Design and Materials
  6. 6Real-Time Constraints
  7. 7Reliability and Fault Tolerance
  8. 8Integration and Systems Tradeoffs
  9. 9Design a Robot System
  10. 10Module Check: Engineering the Whole

Perception and World Modeling

Perception turns raw signals into a world model. Students study computer vision, depth, state estimation, SLAM, sensor fusion, and perception under uncertainty.

  1. 1From Pixels to Understanding
  2. 2Computer Vision for Robots
  3. 3Depth, 3D, and Point Clouds
  4. 4State Estimation and Filtering
  5. 5Localization and SLAM
  6. 6Sensor Fusion
  7. 7Building a World Model
  8. 8Perception Under Uncertainty
  9. 9Design a Perception Stack
  10. 10Module Check: Modeling the World

Control, Motion, and Manipulation

Control turns intent into motion. Students study kinematics, dynamics, feedback control, motion planning, locomotion, and manipulation.

  1. 1The Control Problem
  2. 2Kinematics
  3. 3Dynamics and Forces
  4. 4Feedback Control and PID
  5. 5Motion Planning
  6. 6Locomotion
  7. 7Manipulation and Grasping
  8. 8Compliance and Safe Physical Interaction
  9. 9Design a Motion Controller
  10. 10Module Check: Making It Move
  11. 11Lab: Path Planner

Learning and Autonomy in Robotics

Modern robots learn. Students study learning from data, reinforcement and imitation learning, sim-to-real transfer, the autonomy stack, and robot safety.

  1. 1Why Robots Learn
  2. 2Learning from Data
  3. 3Reinforcement Learning for Control
  4. 4Imitation Learning
  5. 5Simulation and Sim-to-Real
  6. 6The Autonomy Stack
  7. 7Levels of Autonomy and Human Oversight
  8. 8Robustness, Safety, and Verification
  9. 9Design an Autonomous Robot
  10. 10Module Check: Robots That Learn

Embodied AI and the Future

Embodied AI is intelligence that acts through a body. Students examine the embodiment hypothesis, foundation models for robotics, humanoids, ethics, and the frontier.

  1. 1What Is Embodied AI?
  2. 2The Embodiment Hypothesis
  3. 3Foundation Models for Robotics
  4. 4Humanoids and General-Purpose Robots
  5. 5Robots and Human Work
  6. 6Safety and Ethics of Embodied AI
  7. 7Robots in Society
  8. 8The Frontier of Robotics
  9. 9Embodied AI Position Paper
  10. 10Module Check: The Embodied Future

Capstone Project: Design an Autonomous System

Engineer a full robot system: perception, planning, control, safety.

  1. 1Project: Design an Autonomous System