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Does It Work?
Now that you’ve finished building your robot and written down all the steps in your notebook, it’s time for the next part of the engineering design process—testing your robot!
At the beginning, your team made some clear goals about what your robot should be able to do. Now it’s time to check if your robot actually does those things!
To do this, your team should come up with a set of tests. These tests will help you see how well your robot works. For example, can it pick up objects? Can it move in the right direction? Does it follow your code?
By testing your robot, you’ll find out what’s working and what might need to be fixed or improved. This is a very important step before going to your first competition!
Build & Program The Solution Criteria
Exceeds
Records all the steps to test the solution, including test results.
Meets
Records the key steps to test the solution.
Below
Does not record steps to test the solution.
Develop a Test
Look Back at Your Goals
Review the goals your team made. What did you want your robot to be able to do?Choose What to Test
Pick one or two things to focus on. Write a sentence about why you are testing this part.Plan the Test
Make a list of steps to follow during your test.
Include details about how to set it up and what each person will do.Run the Test & Collect Data
Try your test a few times. Write down what happens each time.
You can use numbers (like how many rings it picked up) or write what you saw.Take Photos
Take pictures of your robot during the test. These help show what went right or wrong.
Add these photos to your notebook.Write a Conclusion
Explain what happened. Did the robot do what it was supposed to?
Do you think it passed or failed the test?Make a Plan to Improve
What should your team fix or change next? Write down your ideas to help your robot work better.
Test all of your desired qualities!
Where Do We Go From Here?
The engineering design process isn’t a straight line that you just follow once and finish. It’s more like a loop that you go through again and again to keep improving your design.
Some parts of your robot probably worked really well--like maybe it could move fast or grab rings easily. But other parts might not have worked the way you wanted--like the arm might not lift high enough or the robot gets stuck.
That’s totally okay! In the next step, called optimize, your team will look at the parts that didn’t work as well and try to come up with new ideas to fix them.
Even in the real world, engineers do this all the time. For example, when a car company designs a new car, they test it over and over and make changes until it runs just right.
Now it’s your turn to make your robot even better!
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