Engineering Design, Robotics & Drones
How engineers turn a need into a working machine: requirements, drawing and CAD, materials and mechanisms, structures that hold, robots that sense and decide, and drones that fly, ending in a capstone project you design, build, test and present.
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What to cover
50 of 50 lessons are MUST COVER. They are tested on the unit tests and exams, or are skills the SAT/ACT relies on. OPTIONAL lessons are enrichment. Do them if time allows. The course is complete when the MUST COVER lessons are done.
Unit 1: The Engineering Design Process
- MUST COVER 1.1 What Engineers Do: Smeaton and the Eddystone Lighthouse · exam
- MUST COVER 1.2 Requirements and Constraints: Designing the Apollo Lunar Module · exam
- MUST COVER 1.3 Brainstorming and Decision Matrices: The Rainhill Trials · exam
- MUST COVER 1.4 Prototyping and Testing: The Wright Brothers’ Gliders · exam
- MUST COVER 1.5 Documentation and the Engineer’s Notebook: Edison at Menlo Park · exam
Unit 2: Technical Drawing and CAD
- MUST COVER 2.1 Sketching and Isometric Drawing: Farish’s Isometrical Perspective · unit test
- MUST COVER 2.2 Orthographic Projection: Monge’s Descriptive Geometry · exam
- MUST COVER 2.3 Dimensions and Tolerances: Maudslay, Whitworth and the Measured Inch · exam
- MUST COVER 2.4 CAD Part Modeling: From Sketchpad to Onshape · exam
- MUST COVER 2.5 Assemblies: The Boeing 777 and the Digital Mockup · unit test
Unit 3: Materials and Manufacturing
- MUST COVER 3.1 Material Properties: Hooke, Young and the Stress–Strain Curve · exam
- MUST COVER 3.2 Metals, Plastics, Wood and Composites: Baekeland and the Age of Plastics · exam
- MUST COVER 3.3 Interchangeable Parts and the Assembly Line: Whitney to Ford · exam
- MUST COVER 3.4 3D Printing and Laser Cutting: Making Parts from Files · exam
- MUST COVER 3.5 Designing a Toy for Manufacture: The LEGO Brick · exam
Unit 4: Mechanisms
- MUST COVER 4.1 Simple Machines Revisited: Archimedes Moves a Ship · exam
- MUST COVER 4.2 Gears and Gear Ratios: From the Antikythera Mechanism to Robot Drives · exam
- MUST COVER 4.3 Linkages and Cams: Watt’s Parallel Motion · exam
- MUST COVER 4.4 Belts, Chains and Power Transmission: The Safety Bicycle · exam
- MUST COVER 4.5 Motors: Torque, Speed and Davenport’s First Motor · exam
Unit 5: Structures and Strength
- MUST COVER 5.1 Forces, Stress and Strain: Galileo’s Cantilever · exam
- MUST COVER 5.2 Factor of Safety: The Brooklyn Bridge and the Fraudulent Wire · exam
- MUST COVER 5.3 Beams and Trusses for Designers: Squire Whipple Calculates a Bridge · exam
- MUST COVER 5.4 Failure and Fatigue: The de Havilland Comet · exam
- MUST COVER 5.5 Toy Safety Engineering: Small Parts, Drops and Pulls · exam
Unit 6: Robotics I: Building the Robot
- MUST COVER 6.1 From Automata to Unimate: What Makes a Robot · exam
- MUST COVER 6.2 Robot Structure and Drivetrains: The Lunar Roving Vehicle · exam
- MUST COVER 6.3 Motors and Motor Controllers: Sojourner’s Six Wheels · exam
- MUST COVER 6.4 Power and Wiring: Goodenough’s Lithium-Ion Battery · exam
- MUST COVER 6.5 FIRST and VEX: Robotics Competitions and How Teams Work · unit test
Unit 7: Robotics II: Sensing and Control
- MUST COVER 7.1 Sensors: Grey Walter’s Tortoises and the Robot’s Senses · exam
- MUST COVER 7.2 Programming a Robot: The Apollo Guidance Computer · unit test
- MUST COVER 7.3 Open- and Closed-Loop Control: Watt’s Governor and Maxwell · unit test
- MUST COVER 7.4 PID, Simply: Minorsky, Sperry and the Automatic Helmsman · exam
- MUST COVER 7.5 Line Following and Obstacle Avoidance: Guided Vehicles · exam
Unit 8: Autonomy
- MUST COVER 8.1 Navigation and Odometry: From the Roman Hodometer to Dead Reckoning · exam
- MUST COVER 8.2 The Mars Rovers: Driving Itself on Another World · exam
- MUST COVER 8.3 Computer Vision Basics: From Kirsch’s First Digital Image · unit test
- MUST COVER 8.4 Autonomous Vehicles: The DARPA Grand Challenge · exam
- MUST COVER 8.5 The Ethics of Autonomous Machines: Engineers and Responsibility · unit test
Unit 9: Drones
- MUST COVER 9.1 From the First Helicopters to the Quadcopter · unit test
- MUST COVER 9.2 Quadcopter Physics: Thrust, Power and Control · exam
- MUST COVER 9.3 The Flight Controller and Its Sensors · exam
- MUST COVER 9.4 FAA Rules: TRUST, Registration and Part 107 · exam
- MUST COVER 9.5 Flying Safely: Simulators, Small Drones and the Link Trainer · unit test
Unit 10: Capstone
- MUST COVER 10.1 Project Planning: Schedule and Budget (Counting the Cost) · exam
- MUST COVER 10.2 Patents and Intellectual Property: The Wright Brothers’ Patent · unit test
- MUST COVER 10.3 Build and Test: Verification, Validation and the Hubble Mirror · unit test
- MUST COVER 10.4 Iteration and Failure: Apollo 13 · exam
- MUST COVER 10.5 Presenting the Design: Faraday’s Christmas Lectures · unit test
36-week pacing calendar
From the course’s own 33-week pacing guide, with catch-up and review weeks added to fill a 36-week (180-day) year.
| Week | Plan | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | Day 1: Lesson 1.1 What Engineers Do: Smeaton and the Eddystone Lighthouse: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 1.1: build and notebook Day 3: Lesson 1.1: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 1.2 Requirements and Constraints: Designing the Apollo Lunar Module: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 1.2: build and notebook | ||
| Wk 2 | Day 1: Lesson 1.2: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 1.3 Brainstorming and Decision Matrices: The Rainhill Trials: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 1.3: build and notebook Day 4: Lesson 1.3: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 1.4 Prototyping and Testing: The Wright Brothers’ Gliders: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 3 | Day 1: Lesson 1.4: build and notebook Day 2: Lesson 1.4: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 1.5 Documentation and the Engineer’s Notebook: Edison at Menlo Park: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 1.5: build and notebook Day 5: Lesson 1.5: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 4 | Day 1: Unit 1 test Day 2: Lesson 2.1 Sketching and Isometric Drawing: Farish’s Isometrical Perspective: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 2.1: build and notebook Day 4: Lesson 2.1: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 2.2 Orthographic Projection: Monge’s Descriptive Geometry: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 5 | Day 1: Lesson 2.2: build and notebook Day 2: Lesson 2.2: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 2.3 Dimensions and Tolerances: Maudslay, Whitworth and the Measured Inch: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 2.3: build and notebook Day 5: Lesson 2.3: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 6 | Day 1: Lesson 2.4 CAD Part Modeling: From Sketchpad to Onshape: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 2.4: build and notebook Day 3: Lesson 2.4: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 2.5 Assemblies: The Boeing 777 and the Digital Mockup: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 2.5: build and notebook | ||
| Wk 7 | Day 1: Lesson 2.5: practice set and corrections Day 2: Unit 2 test Day 3: Lesson 3.1 Material Properties: Hooke, Young and the Stress–Strain Curve: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 3.1: build and notebook Day 5: Lesson 3.1: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 8 | Day 1: Lesson 3.2 Metals, Plastics, Wood and Composites: Baekeland and the Age of Plastics: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 3.2: build and notebook Day 3: Lesson 3.2: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 3.3 Interchangeable Parts and the Assembly Line: Whitney to Ford: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 3.3: build and notebook | ||
| Wk 9 | Day 1: Lesson 3.3: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 3.4 3D Printing and Laser Cutting: Making Parts from Files: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 3.4: build and notebook Day 4: Lesson 3.4: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 3.5 Designing a Toy for Manufacture: The LEGO Brick: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 10 | Day 1: Lesson 3.5: build and notebook Day 2: Lesson 3.5: practice set and corrections Day 3: Unit 3 test Day 4: Lesson 4.1 Simple Machines Revisited: Archimedes Moves a Ship: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 4.1: build and notebook | ||
| Wk 11 | Day 1: Lesson 4.1: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 4.2 Gears and Gear Ratios: From the Antikythera Mechanism to Robot Drives: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 4.2: build and notebook Day 4: Lesson 4.2: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 4.3 Linkages and Cams: Watt’s Parallel Motion: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 12 | Day 1: Lesson 4.3: build and notebook Day 2: Lesson 4.3: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 4.4 Belts, Chains and Power Transmission: The Safety Bicycle: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 4.4: build and notebook Day 5: Lesson 4.4: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 13 | Day 1: Lesson 4.5 Motors: Torque, Speed and Davenport’s First Motor: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 4.5: build and notebook Day 3: Lesson 4.5: practice set and corrections Day 4: Unit 4 test Day 5: Lesson 5.1 Forces, Stress and Strain: Galileo’s Cantilever: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 14 | Day 1: Lesson 5.1: build and notebook Day 2: Lesson 5.1: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 5.2 Factor of Safety: The Brooklyn Bridge and the Fraudulent Wire: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 5.2: build and notebook Day 5: Lesson 5.2: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 15 | Day 1: Lesson 5.3 Beams and Trusses for Designers: Squire Whipple Calculates a Bridge: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 5.3: build and notebook Day 3: Lesson 5.3: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 5.4 Failure and Fatigue: The de Havilland Comet: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 5.4: build and notebook | ||
| Wk 16 | Day 1: Lesson 5.4: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 5.5 Toy Safety Engineering: Small Parts, Drops and Pulls: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 5.5: build and notebook Day 4: Lesson 5.5: practice set and corrections Day 5: Unit 5 test | ||
| Wk 17 | Catch-up and review week (no new lessons) | ||
| Wk 18 | Day 1: Review day for the midterm Day 2: Midterm exam Day 3: Lesson 6.1 From Automata to Unimate: What Makes a Robot: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 6.1: build and notebook Day 5: Lesson 6.1: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 19 | Day 1: Lesson 6.2 Robot Structure and Drivetrains: The Lunar Roving Vehicle: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 6.2: build and notebook Day 3: Lesson 6.2: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 6.3 Motors and Motor Controllers: Sojourner’s Six Wheels: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 6.3: build and notebook | ||
| Wk 20 | Day 1: Lesson 6.3: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 6.4 Power and Wiring: Goodenough’s Lithium-Ion Battery: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 6.4: build and notebook Day 4: Lesson 6.4: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 6.5 FIRST and VEX: Robotics Competitions and How Teams Work: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 21 | Day 1: Lesson 6.5: build and notebook Day 2: Lesson 6.5: practice set and corrections Day 3: Unit 6 test Day 4: Lesson 7.1 Sensors: Grey Walter’s Tortoises and the Robot’s Senses: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 7.1: build and notebook | ||
| Wk 22 | Day 1: Lesson 7.1: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 7.2 Programming a Robot: The Apollo Guidance Computer: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 7.2: build and notebook Day 4: Lesson 7.2: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 7.3 Open- and Closed-Loop Control: Watt’s Governor and Maxwell: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 23 | Day 1: Lesson 7.3: build and notebook Day 2: Lesson 7.3: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 7.4 PID, Simply: Minorsky, Sperry and the Automatic Helmsman: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 7.4: build and notebook Day 5: Lesson 7.4: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 24 | Day 1: Lesson 7.5 Line Following and Obstacle Avoidance: Guided Vehicles: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 7.5: build and notebook Day 3: Lesson 7.5: practice set and corrections Day 4: Unit 7 test Day 5: Lesson 8.1 Navigation and Odometry: From the Roman Hodometer to Dead Reckoning: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 25 | Day 1: Lesson 8.1: build and notebook Day 2: Lesson 8.1: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 8.2 The Mars Rovers: Driving Itself on Another World: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 8.2: build and notebook Day 5: Lesson 8.2: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 26 | Day 1: Lesson 8.3 Computer Vision Basics: From Kirsch’s First Digital Image: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 8.3: build and notebook Day 3: Lesson 8.3: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 8.4 Autonomous Vehicles: The DARPA Grand Challenge: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 8.4: build and notebook | ||
| Wk 27 | Day 1: Lesson 8.4: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 8.5 The Ethics of Autonomous Machines: Engineers and Responsibility: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 8.5: build and notebook Day 4: Lesson 8.5: practice set and corrections Day 5: Unit 8 test | ||
| Wk 28 | Day 1: Lesson 9.1 From the First Helicopters to the Quadcopter: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 9.1: build and notebook Day 3: Lesson 9.1: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 9.2 Quadcopter Physics: Thrust, Power and Control: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 9.2: build and notebook | ||
| Wk 29 | Day 1: Lesson 9.2: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 9.3 The Flight Controller and Its Sensors: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 9.3: build and notebook Day 4: Lesson 9.3: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 9.4 FAA Rules: TRUST, Registration and Part 107: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 30 | Day 1: Lesson 9.4: build and notebook Day 2: Lesson 9.4: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 9.5 Flying Safely: Simulators, Small Drones and the Link Trainer: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 9.5: build and notebook Day 5: Lesson 9.5: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 31 | Day 1: Unit 9 test Day 2: Lesson 10.1 Project Planning: Schedule and Budget (Counting the Cost): video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 10.1: build and notebook Day 4: Lesson 10.1: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 10.2 Patents and Intellectual Property: The Wright Brothers’ Patent: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 32 | Day 1: Lesson 10.2: build and notebook Day 2: Lesson 10.2: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 10.3 Build and Test: Verification, Validation and the Hubble Mirror: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 10.3: build and notebook Day 5: Lesson 10.3: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 33 | Day 1: Lesson 10.4 Iteration and Failure: Apollo 13: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 10.4: build and notebook Day 3: Lesson 10.4: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 10.5 Presenting the Design: Faraday’s Christmas Lectures: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 10.5: build and notebook | ||
| Wk 34 | Day 1: Lesson 10.5: practice set and corrections Day 2: Unit 10 test Day 3: Review day for the final Day 4: Final exam | ||
| Wk 35 | Catch-up week: finish any MUST COVER lesson not yet done | ||
| Wk 36 | Year-end review, portfolio and records |
Grading: Practice sets (completed and corrected) 15%, Builds (requirements, testing and the improvement round) 25%, Engineer’s notebook 10%, Unit tests 30%, Midterm exam 10%, Final exam 10%. Scale: A 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69. Below 60: review the unit with help and retake the test.