First Drive Glossary

Quick definitions for the core terms used in this session.

Pybricks: The software we use to program the robot. It runs in a web browser at code.pybricks.com and talks to the hub over Bluetooth.

hub: The big programmable brick (the SPIKE Prime “brain”). Motors and sensors plug into its ports, and it runs your program.

port: A labeled socket on the hub (A, B, C, …) where you plug in a motor or sensor. Your code has to use the same port the part is actually plugged into.

Motor: A part that spins. The driving base has two — a left and a right — and the robot drives by spinning them.

DriveBase: The Pybricks tool that controls both drive motors together so you can say “drive forward” or “turn” instead of controlling each wheel by hand.

millimeter (mm): The unit straight() uses for distance. 1000 mm = 1 meter. A new pencil is about 190 mm long.

degree: The unit turn() uses for angles. A quarter turn is 90 degrees; a full spin is 360 degrees.

wheel_diameter: How wide the wheel is, in mm. The robot uses this to figure out how far one wheel-spin moves it. You measure and adjust this — it’s a calibration value, not a fixed number.

axle_track: The distance between the two wheels, in mm. The robot uses this to figure out turns. Also a calibration value you measure and adjust.

calibration: Measuring what the robot actually does and adjusting the numbers until the code matches reality. (“It went too far — lower the wheel size and try again.”)

for loop: A way to repeat the same steps a set number of times, like driving the four sides of a square with for i in range(4):.

bug: When the robot does something you didn’t want. It’s not a mystery — it’s sensor data: the robot did exactly what the code said. Read the code to find what you actually told it to do.