Maze Runner Common Questions

Keep answers short and friendly. Add detail only if students ask for more.

“What’s a function, really?”

It’s a named move. You write the steps once under def name():, and after that you can run all of them just by writing name(). It saves typing and makes the maze solution read like a list of instructions.

If they want more: The built-in commands like robot.straight() are functions too — you’re just making your own.

“I wrote def forward_one_cell(): but nothing moved. Did I break it?”

No — defining a function doesn’t run it; it just teaches the robot what that name means. You have to call it by writing forward_one_cell() on its own line. Defining is the recipe; calling is cooking it.

“How is this different from the for loop we did yesterday?”

A for loop repeats the same move several times. A function gives a move a name so you can reuse it anywhere. They team up well — you can call your functions inside a loop.

“My robot bumped a wall. What went wrong?”

That’s sensor data — the robot did exactly what the sequence said. Read your moves in order and find the step where it first went wrong, fix that one move, and run again.

“forward_one_cell() overshoots (or stops short) of the cell.”

That’s calibration. The cell size is a guess inside the function. Overshot → lower the mm; stopped short → raise it. Run one cell at a time until it lands right.

“My turns are a little off over the whole maze.”

Small turn errors stack up over a long path — that’s real robotics, and it’s exactly what tomorrow’s gyro lesson fixes. For today, re-check the axle_track you calibrated in Day 1 and aim for “completes the maze,” not “perfect.”

“Do I have to retype the setup from yesterday?”

No — reuse the same hub, Motor, and DriveBase setup with your calibrated values. Don’t rewrite it from scratch.

“Do I have to use Python? I want to use blocks.”

Blocks are totally fine — functions are My Blocks (named block stacks). Use the Block Coding Guide. You can peek at the live Python preview whenever you’re curious.

Teaching Notes for Instructors

This is a cumulative session, so run the catch-up in the huddle and get any late arrival connected and driving before functions begin. The big idea today is the define vs. call distinction — watch for students who define a function and expect it to run. Push the planning-on-paper habit hard; a maze solved on paper first runs in far fewer tries. Keep the cell size a measure-and-adjust activity, never a handed-out number, and celebrate the first robot that completes a maze — that’s when functions click.