Where Code Meets the Physical World

The Tech Explorers: Physical Computing program teaches students that real computing is not just what happens on a screen—it is what happens when code controls motors, reads sensors, and makes decisions in the physical world. Through forty-three class periods of progressively challenging robotics missions, students develop the programming logic, systems thinking, and engineering confidence that define modern technology careers.

Students explore how physical computing supports professionals in fields such as:

• Robotics engineering and automation
• Agricultural technology and precision farming
• Space exploration and rover design
• Logistics and warehouse automation
• Entertainment technology and interactive systems
• Cybersecurity and information security

They do not just learn to code. They code robots that move, sense, and solve real problems.

Science

• Sensor physics—ultrasonic distance, color detection, time-of-flight measurement
• Light, sound, and frequency relationships
• Environmental data collection and analysis
• Systems thinking—how hardware and software subsystems interact

Technology

• Block-based programming with the Seeker app
• USB and Bluetooth connectivity for program upload and debugging
• Servo motor control and sensor integration
• Pseudocode, flowcharts, and structured programming concepts
• Authentication, authorization and access logs

Engineering

• Building and configuring robotic systems from components
• Designing algorithms for navigation, delivery, and sorting tasks
• Debugging hardware and software issues systematically
• Engineering design process applied to capstone career challenge
• Testing a system for security weaknesses and fixing them

Math

• Distance, speed, and time calculations for robot navigation
• Encoder data and wheel measurements for field calculations
• Area and perimeter calculations for agricultural applications
• Data visualization and graphing from servo speed experiments

Unit 1—Onboarding:

• Hardware Onboarding—Build Seeker in humanoid form, connect servos, run demo programs, apply systems thinking
• Software Onboarding—Learn the Seeker programming app, write pseudocode, upload first program via USB and Bluetooth
• Cybersecurity—Passwords and authentication, including why brute-force guessing works.

Unit 2—Movement and Delivery:

• Doordrop Delivery—Program drive, spin, and pivot blocks to control movement; explore algorithms, sequencing, and variables
• FarmFresh Grocery—Control servo motors, engineer paper grocery bags, conduct speed experiments, complete Grocery Delivery Challenge
• Cybersecurity—How risk changes when data is stored, moved or used.

Unit 3—Lights and Sound:

• Lighting the Stage—Use conditionals to control pixel LEDs, create animations and color combinations, present a custom storm scene
• Sounding Off—Explore frequency and pitch through sound programming, create sound effects, build a musical keyboard, perform a creative monologue
• Cybersecurity—Authentication, authorization and system logs, with different users controlling different stage effects.

Unit 4—Sensors and Exploration:

• Satellite Manufacturing Facility—Reconfigure Seeker for rover mode, program ultrasonic sensors, complete a Transport Challenge
• Mars Simulation Colony—Use TOF sensors for gesture control, navigate corridors, complete the Mars Rover Challenge
• Cybersecurity—Intellectual property and fair use as students design Seeker for new jobs.

Unit 5—Agriculture:

• Encoded Farming—Modify Seeker with sensors and attachments for agricultural tasks, calculate field dimensions, traverse and clear fields
• Sensing Color—Mount a color sensor and servo arm, distinguish crops from weeds, complete the Tomato Sorting Challenge
• Cybersecurity—Layered and physical security plans for a whole organization.

Career Challenge:

• Research an industry, design and build a prototype with two Seeker robots, program tasks using variables, loops, conditionals, and sensors, deliver a seven-to-ten-minute presentation
• Cybersecurity—Connecting their interests to cybersecurity career pathways.