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Concepts Covered — STEM Robots v1

This is a raw enumeration of all concepts covered across the markdown content in this repository. Concepts are grouped thematically for readability; the ordering within each group reflects approximate teaching sequence.

1. Hardware & Physical Computing

Microcontroller Platform

  • Raspberry Pi RP2040 chip
  • Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller
  • Cytron Maker Pi RP2040 board
  • BOOTSEL button (boot selection / UF2 flashing)
  • GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) pins
  • GPIO pin numbering and pinout diagrams
  • Flash memory
  • RAM (264K SRAM on RP2040)
  • USB cable for programming and power
  • Raspberry Pi Pico W (with built-in WiFi)

Robot Chassis & Mechanical

  • Smart Car chassis
  • DC motor mounting and wheel attachment
  • Battery pack (4 AA batteries)
  • AA batteries and voltage
  • Robot chassis assembly (no-soldering approach)
  • Castellated edge PCB connections
  • Dupont connectors / jumper wires
  • Grove connectors (standardized plug-and-play)
  • Breadboards

Motors & Actuators

  • DC motors (6-volt hobby motors)
  • Motor direction (forward / reverse)
  • Motor speed control
  • H-bridge circuit
  • H-bridge switch states (S1–S4)
  • DPDT (Double Pole Double Throw) switch
  • SPST (Single Pole Single Throw) switch
  • Motor driver / DC motor driver IC
  • Servo motors (SG90 micro-servo)
  • Servo angle control (–90° to +90°)
  • Servo PWM frequency and duty cycle calibration
  • Piezo buzzer / speaker

Sensors

  • Sensor types overview (bump, IR, ultrasonic, ToF, LIDAR)
  • Time-of-Flight (ToF) distance sensor (VL53L0X)
  • I2C address scanning for sensors
  • Ultrasonic distance sensors
  • Infrared (IR) distance sensors
  • Bump switches / microswitches
  • Potentiometer (analog input / sensor calibration)
  • Analog vs. digital signals
  • ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter)
  • Sensor calibration (zero distance, scale factor)
  • Sensor fusion (combining multiple sensor inputs)

Displays & LEDs

  • NeoPixels / WS2816 individually addressable RGB LEDs
  • LED strip animations
  • RGB LED (Red, Green, Blue)
  • GPIO status LEDs
  • OLED display (128×64 monochrome)
  • SSD1306 display driver chip
  • Framebuffer
  • Blit (copy operation for framebuffer)
  • Resolution (width × height in pixels)
  • SPI bus (for OLED display)
  • I2C bus (for sensors and peripherals)
  • SPI vs. I2C comparison

Electronics Fundamentals

  • Voltage, current, and basic circuits
  • Power management and battery usage
  • LiPo battery
  • Transistors for motor control
  • Resistors and resistance values
  • Simple circuit construction
  • Electrical safety
  • Breadboard layout

2. Communication Protocols

  • Serial communication basics
  • I2C protocol (Inter-Integrated Circuit)
  • I2C bus setup (SDA, SCL pins, frequency)
  • I2C device scanning
  • SPI protocol (Serial Peripheral Interface)
  • SPI vs. I2C trade-offs
  • GPIO interrupt-driven communication
  • Network sockets
  • HTTP protocol (GET and POST requests)
  • WiFi connectivity (STA_IF mode)
  • Secrets file (SSID / password management)
  • Ping test (network reachability)
  • Web server on microcontroller
  • IP address assignment
  • Port 80 (HTTP default port)
  • Bluetooth (overview)

3. MicroPython Programming

Environment & Setup

  • MicroPython overview and purpose
  • Thonny IDE installation and setup
  • Thonny REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop)
  • Connecting Pico to computer via USB
  • UF2 file (firmware flashing)
  • MPFShell (file management over serial)
  • Uploading files to microcontroller
  • Syntax highlighting and autocomplete

Core Language Concepts

  • Variables and assignment
  • Data types: integer, float, string, boolean
  • Arithmetic operators
  • Comparison operators
  • Logical operators
  • Control structures: if, elif, else
  • for loops
  • while loops
  • Functions (def)
  • Function parameters and return values
  • Scope (local vs. global variables)
  • global keyword
  • Exception handling (try / except / finally)
  • KeyboardInterrupt handling for clean shutdown
  • Importing modules (import, from … import)
  • Built-in libraries (time, machine, utime, etc.)
  • Lists (creation, indexing, iteration)
  • Tuples (immutable sequences)
  • Dictionaries (key-value pairs)
  • String manipulation (concatenation, slicing)
  • Formatted strings / f-strings
  • String interpolation (PEP 498)
  • Comments and code documentation
  • Recursion

Hardware-Specific MicroPython

  • machine.Pin (digital I/O)
  • machine.PWM (Pulse Width Modulation output)
  • machine.I2C (I2C bus object)
  • machine.SPI (SPI bus object)
  • time.sleep / sleep_ms / ticks_ms
  • neopixel.NeoPixel (LED strip control)
  • urandom.random() (randomness for robot behaviors)
  • Pin interrupt registration (irq, IRQ_FALLING)
  • Button debouncing (software technique)
  • Duty cycle (duty_u16)
  • PWM frequency setting

Configuration & Modularity

  • Hardware configuration file (config.py)
  • Pin assignment constants (naming conventions)
  • Modular programming (separating concerns)
  • Reusable functions (motor on/off, get_distance)
  • Secrets file pattern (secrets.py)
  • .gitignore for sensitive files

Advanced Programming Topics

  • Interrupts and asynchronous events
  • Timers and delays
  • State machines
  • Multithreading in MicroPython
  • Asynchronous programming
  • Data logging
  • Storing data on SD cards (overview)
  • Real-time clocks (overview)
  • Queues and stacks (data structures)
  • Regular expressions (overview)
  • Version control with Git
  • Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)

4. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)

  • PWM concept (duty cycle, frequency, period)
  • PWM for LED brightness control
  • PWM for DC motor speed control
  • PWM for servo motor angle control
  • 16-bit duty cycle values (0–65535)
  • PWM frequency selection (e.g., 40 Hz for servos)
  • Linear mapping / range conversion function
  • PWM cleanup on shutdown

5. Robot Behaviors & Algorithms

  • Motor control primitives (forward, reverse, turn left, turn right, stop)
  • Open-loop motor control
  • Closed-loop feedback control
  • Collision avoidance algorithm
  • Random turn direction (probabilistic behavior)
  • Distance threshold–based decision making
  • Line following algorithm
  • IR sensor differential reading for line following
  • Sensor-to-motor feedback loop
  • Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control (overview)
  • Robot "dance" sequences (timed movement patterns)
  • Displaying distance on LED bar graph
  • Obstacle detection and path planning (overview)
  • Maze navigation (overview)
  • Autonomous robot behavior

6. Display Programming

  • OLED display initialization (I2C and SPI modes)
  • Displaying text on OLED
  • Drawing primitives: lines, circles, rectangles, polygons
  • Framebuffer drawing commands
  • Data visualization: bar charts of sensor data
  • Displaying real-time sensor readings
  • Animated faces on OLED
  • Display distance as graphical meter
  • Servo position meter display

7. Wireless & IoT

  • WiFi setup on Raspberry Pi Pico W
  • Network WLAN object
  • Connecting to access point (SSID / password)
  • Checking connection status (wlan.isconnected())
  • IP address retrieval
  • Ping test (slow vs. fast power modes)
  • Simple web server (socket-based)
  • HTTP GET and POST request handling
  • Generating dynamic HTML from Python (f-strings)
  • JavaScript fetch() API (client-side button click)
  • LED control via web browser
  • IoT concepts and applications
  • Private network access configuration

8. Computational Thinking

  • Abstraction (focusing on essential information)
  • Algorithms (step-by-step problem solving)
  • Decomposition (breaking problems into parts)
  • Pattern recognition (identifying similarities)
  • Explainability (can AI explain its decisions?)
  • Bias in computing
  • Events (what starts or changes a program)
  • Loops (repeating tasks)
  • Variables (referencing common values)
  • Conditionals (if/then/else logic)
  • Functions (grouping and naming code blocks)
  • Function parameters (reusability)
  • Data types in computational thinking
  • Data structures (lists, dictionaries)
  • Debugging (finding and fixing errors)
  • Testing and iteration (iterative improvement)
  • Output and visualization (text, graphics, serial)
  • Feedback (user input and program response)
  • Scope and variable protection
  • Drawing as an on-ramp to computational thinking
  • Recursion (functions calling themselves)
  • Logging (keeping records of program execution)

9. Engineering & Design Process

  • Design and prototyping methodology
  • Mechanical design considerations (weight, balance)
  • Iterative design process (build → test → improve)
  • Project planning and management
  • Integrating multiple sensors and actuators
  • Safety practices in electronics labs
  • Troubleshooting hardware and software
  • Documentation and clear code
  • Collaboration and teamwork
  • Assessment and self-reflection

10. Educational Approaches & Pedagogy

  • Physical computing as a learning approach
  • Computational thinking pedagogy
  • Rhizomatic learning (non-linear, interconnected knowledge)
  • Learning graphs / dependency-based curriculum
  • Bloom's Taxonomy (2001 revision: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create)
  • Exploration vs. competition in robotics education
  • Inclusive robotics education (gender, race, socioeconomic equity)
  • MicroSims (small web-based interactive simulations)
  • Generative AI for customizing lesson plans
  • Grade-level differentiation (5th grade through 12th grade)
  • Hands-on / experiential learning
  • Challenge-based extension activities
  • Student-designed final projects

11. Advanced & Optional Topics

  • Sensor fusion (combining ToF + ultrasonic + IR)
  • Machine learning basics in robotics
  • Image processing basics
  • Camera modules (overview)
  • GPS modules (overview)
  • SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) — overview
  • Path planning algorithms
  • NFC modules (overview)
  • Gesture control (overview)
  • Voice command integration (overview)
  • Encoders for motor feedback
  • Accelerometers and gyroscopes
  • Bluetooth communication
  • MQTT protocol (overview)
  • REST APIs (overview)
  • Cloud integration (overview)
  • Advanced AI for object recognition (overview)