Chapter 1: Getting Your Robot Ready
Lesson 1: Charging Your 123 Robot
Hello and welcome back to the VEX Classroom, and also welcome to the Introduction to VEX 123 Training Course. My name is Aimee DeFoe, and I am so excited that you've decided to join us here in this course. You are going to be amazed at how quick and easy it is to get started teaching with VEX 123. You're going to love watching your students' excitement and engagement as they begin to learn with the robot.
So we're going to start out by learning some VEX basics. The very first thing we're going to learn is how to charge your 123 robot. For this lesson, all you're going to need is a robot. If you have a bundle, you can have your charging case with all six robots in it, if you would like. You're also going to need your USB-C cable, a charging brick, and somewhere to plug it in.
Okay, so let's take a look at the robot. Here you see your VEX 123 robot. You can see the touch buttons on the top and the start button in the middle, which has a flashing indicator light. If I turn it up this way, you can see the charging port right there. This is just a regular USB-C charging port, the kind that you probably use many times a day for charging all kinds of different things.
You can either charge one robot at a time or six robots at a time using the charging case. If you want to charge one robot at a time, it's very straightforward. Simply plug in your USB-C cable into the robot and then plug that into your power source. There you go, you're charging your 123 robot.
Now, if you want to charge six robots at a time, you can use the charging case. This is really one of the coolest things about the 123 robot: you can charge six robots at one time, making it really easy to get them ready quickly in your classroom. You can see that there are six robots in here, each with their own USB-C cords. To charge them, make sure that all of their USB-C cords are individually plugged into their robots. Then, plug in the entire charging case at one time into the brick. Plug that into your power source, and now you are charging six 123 robots at once. The flashing indicator lights in the middle show us that all six of those 123s are charging.
Let's take a closer look at that indicator light in the middle of the robot. You can see that I have this 123 robot plugged in and the middle indicator light is flashing red. This is the start button, and the indicator light on the start button will flash red to show you that the robot is charging. When it's fully charged, it will flash green. Let me show you what that will look like. Here's what it looks like when it's fully charged and the indicator light is flashing green. The indicator light in the center of the 123 robot will also flash red to show you that the robot's battery is low and needs to be charged. You might also see it flashing red under that circumstance.
Just to review, if you plug in your 123 robot and the indicator light is flashing red, that means it's charging. If it's flashing green, that means it's fully charged. If you see your robot's light flashing red when you're using it, that's an indication that it's time to plug that 123 robot in for a new charge.
All right, that's it. You now know how to charge your 123 robot. The thing that I would like you to do now is to go and be sure that you have a fully charged 123 robot, because we're going to need it in the next lesson. I'll meet you right back here in the VEX Classroom for that lesson very shortly.
So we're going to start out by learning some VEX basics. The very first thing we're going to learn is how to charge your 123 robot. For this lesson, all you're going to need is a robot. If you have a bundle, you can have your charging case with all six robots in it, if you would like. You're also going to need your USB-C cable, a charging brick, and somewhere to plug it in.
Okay, so let's take a look at the robot. Here you see your VEX 123 robot. You can see the touch buttons on the top and the start button in the middle, which has a flashing indicator light. If I turn it up this way, you can see the charging port right there. This is just a regular USB-C charging port, the kind that you probably use many times a day for charging all kinds of different things.
You can either charge one robot at a time or six robots at a time using the charging case. If you want to charge one robot at a time, it's very straightforward. Simply plug in your USB-C cable into the robot and then plug that into your power source. There you go, you're charging your 123 robot.
Now, if you want to charge six robots at a time, you can use the charging case. This is really one of the coolest things about the 123 robot: you can charge six robots at one time, making it really easy to get them ready quickly in your classroom. You can see that there are six robots in here, each with their own USB-C cords. To charge them, make sure that all of their USB-C cords are individually plugged into their robots. Then, plug in the entire charging case at one time into the brick. Plug that into your power source, and now you are charging six 123 robots at once. The flashing indicator lights in the middle show us that all six of those 123s are charging.
Let's take a closer look at that indicator light in the middle of the robot. You can see that I have this 123 robot plugged in and the middle indicator light is flashing red. This is the start button, and the indicator light on the start button will flash red to show you that the robot is charging. When it's fully charged, it will flash green. Let me show you what that will look like. Here's what it looks like when it's fully charged and the indicator light is flashing green. The indicator light in the center of the 123 robot will also flash red to show you that the robot's battery is low and needs to be charged. You might also see it flashing red under that circumstance.
Just to review, if you plug in your 123 robot and the indicator light is flashing red, that means it's charging. If it's flashing green, that means it's fully charged. If you see your robot's light flashing red when you're using it, that's an indication that it's time to plug that 123 robot in for a new charge.
All right, that's it. You now know how to charge your 123 robot. The thing that I would like you to do now is to go and be sure that you have a fully charged 123 robot, because we're going to need it in the next lesson. I'll meet you right back here in the VEX Classroom for that lesson very shortly.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives Section
- Identify how to charge the 123 Robot by plugging in a USB-C cable to the charging port on the side of the 123 Robot
- Identify that the indicator light on top of the robot flashing red while the 123 Robot is plugged in indicates that it is charging
- Identify that the indicator light on top of the robot flashing greed while the 123 Robot is plugged in indicates that it is fully charged
- Identify that a flashing red indicator light while you are using the 123 Robot indicates that the robot needs to be charged
Lesson Materials
Materials Needed Section
- VEX 123 Robot
- USB-C charging cable (or the charging box from the VEX 123 Classroom Bundle)
- Power source
Summary
Summary Section
This video begins Chapter 1 of the Introduction to VEX 123 Training Course In this video you will learn how to charge your 123 Robot, and how to use the indicator light on the 123 Robot to see the robot’s battery level.