Ages 12–18 · Robotics & Programming
Moubarmej Course
Make a machine do what you want.
Code that moves something in the real world. Students start on a micro:bit, put that same board into a robot, and finish on a competition machine, learning to think in steps because a robot on the floor is unforgiving about vague instructions.
- Cadet
- Driver
- Engineer
- three terms, 10 sessions each
- Group size
- Six students per instructor, capped.
- Where to start
- Nobody is placed on paper. Tell us where your child is and we agree the level together before they start.
- What to bring
- Everything is club equipment: boards, robots, batteries and laptops. Nothing to buy, and every tool we use is free to install at home.
The stations
Three levels, one course.
A student joins where they are and moves up a level each term. Nobody repeats a year, and nobody starts from scratch twice.
Cadet
First board, first build · Usually 12–14
10 sessions
For students who have never written a line of code. Week one assumes nothing.
One new idea a week, and something working by the end of every session.
A micro:bit gadget of their own design, a badge or a step counter or a reaction game, running standalone on a battery.
- micro:bit
- MakeCode
Boarding
Week 1First code on the board. The LEDs light up because they said so.
Inputs
Week 2Buttons and the touch logo. A program that answers back.
Loops & Logic
Week 3Forever, repeat, if and else. A dice, a coin flip, a magic 8-ball.
Variables
Week 4Score, count, memory. A counter that survives the whole session.
Motion
Week 5The accelerometer. Tilt, shake and free-fall, then a working step counter.
Sound
Week 6Speaker and microphone. A noise meter, a theremin, an alarm that goes off when someone opens the door.
Radio
Week 7Two boards talking to each other. Messages across the room without wires.
Design Week
Week 8Their own gadget, sketched on paper. Which sensors, what it does, what could go wrong.
Build & Test
Week 9Make it, break it, fix it. Then someone else uses it and everything that was going to break, breaks.
Showcase
Week 10Unplugged from the laptop, running on its own, demonstrated to the room.
Driver
The board becomes a robot · Usually 14–16
10 sessions
For students who have finished Cadet, or who already know their way around a micro:bit. The same board they know now drives a robot.
Two ideas a week, and a robot that has to work on a real floor rather than on a screen.
A robot that completes an unseen course on its own, line, obstacles and all, plus the code to explain how.
- micro:bit
- Maqueen
- MakeCode
Boarding the Robot
Week 1Motors, direction, speed. The first time their code moves something across the floor.
Precision
Week 2Turning by degrees and driving by distance. Why identical code behaves differently on carpet.
Line Following
Week 3The infrared sensors. Follow a straight line, then a curve, then a gap.
AI & Logic
Week 4Both coursesBoth student courses stop here. Thresholds and decision trees: how a machine actually reaches a choice, and the ways it gets that choice wrong.
Obstacles
Week 5Ultrasonic distance. Stopping before you hit something, reliably.
Combining Senses
Week 6Follow the line, notice the box, go around it, find the line again.
State Machines
Week 7Searching, following, avoiding, finished. One brain with four moods.
Tuning
Week 8Proportional control without the maths lecture. Smooth beats fast, every time.
Challenge Design
Week 9They design a course for another team, and find that designing a fair test is harder than passing one.
Time Trials
Week 10A timed run on a course they have not seen, judged in front of the room.
Engineer
Competition machine · Usually 16–18
10 sessions
For students who have finished Driver. The term is built around a team and a deadline rather than a worksheet.
Team-based and deadline-driven. Most of the term is their own machine, and the last week is judged.
A competition-ready robot, built and programmed by their team, run in a MakeX-format challenge.
- mBot2
- CyberPi
- mBlock
- Python
- MakeX
New Machine
Week 1mBot2 and CyberPi. What carries over from Maqueen, and what has to be relearned.
The Sensors
Week 2Quad RGB, colour and ultrasonic 2. Reading a whole field rather than one line.
Encoders
Week 3Motors that know where they are. Movement you can repeat exactly.
AI & Logic
Week 4Both coursesBoth student courses stop here. Decision trees at machine scale, and an honest look at where “smart” is really just a well-organised pile of if-statements.
Blocks to Text
Week 5The same program in mBlock blocks and in Python, side by side. The blocks stop being training wheels.
Machine Learning
Week 6CyberPi's vision and speech blocks. What they genuinely do, and where they fall over.
The Rulebook
Week 7MakeX rules read properly. Scoring, constraints, penalties, time.
Strategy & Build
Week 8What to attempt and what to skip, then the attachments and gearing to do it. Points per second is the only metric.
Programming Sprint
Week 9The autonomous routine, written, tested and timed under competition conditions.
Competition Day
Week 10The MakeX-format challenge, judged, with everything on the line.
The other lines
Or take the other course.
Plenty of students run both: one this term, the other next, or both at once. The AI & Logic session in the Driver and Engineer terms is the same lesson on either. And the third course is for you.
Try one session before you decide.
Sessions run 90 minutes on a Saturday morning. Message us and we’ll agree the right level together.