Sense, think, then act. Drive the triangle on a 7 by 7 grid, watch bump, light, and distance, then queue up to six steps and press Run. Explore three maps, or solve eight original puzzles.
Key
Bump
No
Light
Dim
Distance
2 cells
Act now
Think (6 steps)
Tap a step to change it, then press Run.
Bump, light, and distance, plus a tiny think list you can run.
Bump is yes when the cell directly ahead is a wall or the edge of the room. It is not a crash counter. Face a wall on purpose in the bumper puzzle, or turn away when you are trying to reach a star.
The robot reads the cell it stands on. A lamp is bright, a dark line is dark, and ordinary floor is dim. Stopping on a lamp or a dark line is a different job from seeing a wall ahead.
Distance counts empty cells ahead, from 0 up to 3. A 0 usually means the bumper is also yes. Use it to notice a hallway ending before you tap Forward again.
The think list is short on purpose. You cannot build a huge program. Plan a path you can see, run it, and edit. That is closer to a first robot hour than a block language.
Explore lets you switch maps: open room, hall, and lamp room. Practice locks a puzzle start and a win rule. Progress is a local checklist, not a grade.
Forward does nothing useful when the bumper is already yes, because a wall is ahead. Turn, then try again. Use Reset puzzle if a Run left the robot in the wrong square. Clear only empties the think list.
Next labs in this group. Everything runs in your browser.
It is a tablet-first grid where a small robot has three sensors and three actions. You see bump (wall ahead), light (bright, dim, or dark underfoot), and distance (empty cells ahead, 0 to 3). You act with Forward, Turn left, and Turn right. You think with a list of at most six steps, then Run. Explore is free driving on three maps. Practice is eight original puzzles such as reach the star or stop on a dark line. It runs in the browser with no kit and no account.
A robot that cannot read the world is just a toy car. The first useful habit is to look at sensors, then choose a step. A six-step list is enough to go around one wall or stop on a lamp, and short enough that a child can watch every move. Longer languages (Scratch, Python, ROS) come after that habit exists. This lab protects the first hour from turning into a coding worksheet.
Bump is yes when the next cell in the facing direction is a wall, including the dark border around the room. It is no when that cell is floor, a lamp, a dark line, or a star. The robot does not slide through walls. Forward while bump is yes keeps the same square and can be a useful signal, not only a mistake.
Light is about the cell the robot is already on: lamp is bright, dark floor is dark, ordinary floor is dim. Distance looks forward along the facing and counts how many empty cells sit before a wall, capped at 3. You can have dim light and distance 2 at the same time. Stopping on a lamp uses light. Not hitting a wall uses bump and distance.
Tap an empty think step to add Forward, then tap that step again to cycle Turn left and Turn right. Tap past Turn right to remove it. You can fill up to six steps. Run plays them in order with a short pause so you can watch. Clear empties the list and leaves the robot where it is. You can still tap the big Act buttons one at a time if you do not want a list.
Each puzzle has one win rule: stand on the star, stand on a dark line, stand on a lamp, or face a wall so bump is yes. Starts and walls are original to this lab. Use the hint if you get stuck, then Reset puzzle to try a cleaner path. Solved IDs stay in this browser.
No. There are no blocks, no USB cable, and no motors in the room. The point is the sense-think-act loop on a grid you can finish in a sitting. When you want hardware or a bigger language, use those tools after this lab, not instead of it.
Yes. Sound is a short cue when you solve a puzzle. You can mute the tablet. The sensors, grid, and win text do not depend on audio.
Runs in your browser. Puzzle checks stay on this device.