The robotics learning roadmap

Robotics looks like one subject from outside. It is really four disciplines that have to be learned in a rough order, plus a fifth stage where they stop being separate. Knowing which stage a learner is at is more useful than knowing their age.

Stage 1: Mechanics

Structure, motion and the physical constraints of a build. This is where a learner discovers that a robot which drives well on carpet climbs badly on tile, and that a chassis flexing by two millimetres will ruin a mechanism.

• Can assemble a drive base that survives being driven into a wall.
• Understands gear ratio as a trade between speed and torque.
• Can explain why their robot pulls to one side.

Stage 2: Electronics

Power, signal and the difference between them. Most early robot failures are electrical, and most learners are surprised by that, because the code is the part they were paying attention to.

• Can wire a motor driver without a diagram in front of them.
• Knows what a brownout looks like: a robot that resets when the motors start.
• Checks power before blaming code.

Stage 3: Code

Sequencing, conditions, loops and state. Blocks are a legitimate starting point; what matters is whether the learner can predict what their program will do before running it.

• Can read a program aloud and say what happens, without running it.
• Uses variables to hold state rather than repeating code.
• Prints sensor values to understand behaviour instead of guessing.

Stage 4: Autonomy

The robot decides. Sensors, thresholds and the gap between what a sensor reports and what is actually true. This is where robotics stops being remote control and starts being engineering.

• Can set a threshold from measured data rather than a guess.
• Handles the case where a sensor reads something impossible.
• Can describe what their robot would do in an unfamiliar room.

Stage 5: Systems

The stages stop being separate. A learner at this stage diagnoses across boundaries, noticing that a code problem is really a mechanical one, or that a sensor reads badly because of where it was mounted.

How long each stage takes

There is no honest answer in weeks. A motivated learner with weekly sessions typically spends a term at each of the first three stages, but the variance is large and moving on before a stage is solid produces a learner who stalls later. Stages are not grades: a learner can be at stage four for code and stage two for mechanics, and a good program will notice.