Engineers & Gears is the perfect stepping stone between early engineering and motorized robotics. Students dive deeper into mechanical concepts such as gear trains, gear ratios, pulleys, axles, and how motion is transferred within a build. They learn how engineers strengthen structures, test solutions, and redesign when needed. This exciting class helps students understand how things move and why—and sets them up for success as they transition into motorized and coded robotics projects. For advanced students, we can offer some of our reverse engineering builds! Because life doesn’t always come with an instruction book, neither will your robots. Do you really need instructions to recreate, duplicate, or make a working model better? What’s the big picture? How do all these pieces make it happen? Teams must draw from their deeper understanding of how Legos work together to make a complete enhanced robot. In the Rally series, teams will be building tanks, “off-road” suspension robots, and design their own steerable robot. Let’s go forward in thinking by building in reverse. Students will be provided with a creative tool kit to design their bots! Students will engage in a group four with assigned roles that rotate weekly. Instructor – He or she reads the out the parts needed for the builds. Engineer - He or she will look for the parts that the instructor reads out loud. Builder – He or she is responsible for building the robot. Cross Checker - He or she helps the builder and gets to drive the robot.