Introduction to Robotics
📋 What it is
A robot is a machine that can SENSE its surroundings, THINK (process), and ACT on the world — the sense-think-act loop.
🗣️ Coach says
Every robot, from a toy to a Mars rover, runs the same loop: SENSE (gather data), THINK (decide what to do), and ACT (move or change something). If a machine only does one of these — like a toaster that just heats — it's not really a robot. The full loop is what makes a robot a robot.
🧠 Memory hook
Sense → Think → Act, over and over. That loop is what makes a robot a robot.
😂 Giggle
Why did the robot go back to school?
Because it needed to upgrade its programming!
😲 Whoa!
The word "robot" comes from a 1920 Czech play and a word meaning "forced labour" — robots were imagined in fiction long before real ones existed.
✅ Quick check: What three steps make up the basic robot loop?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
Sense (gather data from the world), Think (process and decide), and Act (move or affect the world) — the sense-think-act loop.
The sense-think-act cycle is the defining loop of a robot.
🪄 Trick question: Is a toaster that only heats bread a robot?
Careful — think it through, then reveal.
No — it doesn't sense and decide; a robot must sense, think, AND act, not just perform one fixed action.
A single fixed action without sensing/deciding isn't the full robot loop.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Watch any robot or robot video and name each part of the loop: what does it SENSE, THINK, and DO?