Enrollment is open for the current term. Classes meet in Voi and online.
Learn/Syllabus
Syllabus
School robotics syllabi usually name the same pieces: the parts of a robot, the instructions, the build, a use in the world, and a way to show the work. This is that list for the three Muru RoboKids courses. It is written for the classes we teach in Voi, online, in a host school, and in a community session.
Ages 6–8
Point to a wheel, a motor, and a sensor. Put steps in order. Run the robot and say what it did.
Ages 9–11
Add a repeat and a choice. Let a sensor change the next step. Find the one instruction that made the robot wrong.
Ages 12–16
Write the task in one sentence. Use the kit’s electronics. Tell a rule from an example. Present the project. Prepare for a contest only when one is on the calendar.
Ages 18 and up
Choose a task the kit can hold, keep a record of one change, and present the machine. The session meets in Voi, in Malawi, or virtually.
Each band has a beginning, a middle, and a last session. The same arc is used in Voi, online, in a holiday block, and in a short community visit. A short visit still separates the ages. It does not skip a younger group to the older project.
Ages 6–8
First sessions
Name the parts by pointing, and assemble a build the instructor has chosen.
Middle
Run a short sequence. Change one step and watch the robot do something else.
Last session
Show the robot moving and say, in one or two sentences, what it did.
Ages 9–11
First sessions
The robot already moves. Students read the order of steps and predict the next one.
Middle
Add a repeat, a choice, and a sensor that can change what happens next.
Last session
Point at the instruction that was wrong, show the fix, and run it again.
Ages 12–16
First sessions
Write the task in one sentence, and build the smallest version that can fail in an interesting way.
Middle
Use the kit’s electronics, keep a record of one change, and tell a rule from a set of examples.
Last session
Present the task, the failure, and the fix. A contest is the aim only when one is already on the calendar.
Ages 18 and up
First sessions
Write the task in one sentence. Admissions says whether the kit can hold it.
Middle
Build the smallest version, then keep a record of one change.
Last session
Present the machine and the change. A contest is the aim only when one is already scheduled.
Every class starts from three parts a student can touch: a sensor that notices something, a motor that moves something, and a controller that follows the instructions. Younger students learn the names by pointing. Older students say which part failed when a test goes wrong.
Programming begins as an order of steps. The middle band adds a repeat and a choice. The oldest band reads a short program when the project needs it, and changes the line that caused the mistake. The aim is a robot they can control.
Students change something mechanical and watch the motion change: a wheel, an arm, a balance. The first version uses the fewest parts that can fail in an interesting way. The second version keeps a record of that one change.
Older projects use three settings already named in public for this work: farming, health, and moving goods. The model stays on the table. A line-follower is not a farm installation. A counter is not a medical device. A drop point is not warehouse software.
The check is a demonstration. The student runs the robot and explains the failure and the fix. A school contest or a robotics rally is added only when that event is actually scheduled. There is no standing league team on this syllabus.
Kits stay low voltage. Students do not open household wiring. The class also names a decision it will not hand to a program, such as a medical or disciplinary judgment. That conversation sits in the artificial-intelligence unit for the older band.
Other school-lab companies publish a longer menu. If a family or a school needs one of the items below, admissions will say that Muru RoboKids does not run it.
