The Junior Robotics and Basic Coding program (age 6-9) is an elective coding subject.

As part of this program, the students will complete a variety of robotic projects including a car robot, a robotics arm, and a walking robot, utilising the VEX GO platform.

This program is designed to introduce both basic robotics and programming skills in a hands-on way. It is ideal for younger children not quite ready for more complicated robotics systems, such as Vex IQ. The course is also designed to be a good option for those children already studying Scratch programming, as a way to help hone their skills.

Students will work in pairs to build and program their own robots. They will encounter a range of hardware components such as motors and gear-trains based on the VEX GO program – an internationally respected robotics platform built to introduce robotics concepts to young children. At the beginner level, students will utilise the block-based coding language of Scratch in order to complete a variety of competition-based challenges such as a maze-solving robot challenge and a sumo robot challenge.

Each lesson begins with students working together to build the mechanical components, which they then program and test while completing the various challenges for that day. Students will also utilise digital robotics simulators for some challenges in order to further develop their programming skills.