The Electron Lab curriculum

Electron Lab teaches electronics, circuits, microcontrollers and robotics to children aged about 10 to 15, in the browser.

Learners build real circuits on a simulated breadboard, program an Arduino, a BBC micro:bit, an ESP32 and a Raspberry Pi Pico with blocks, wire sensors and motors, then build a robot and program it to drive and to fight in a sumo arena. There are 17 levels and 76 missions, with hints, “Why?” help and quizzes, plus 12 free labs. Nothing to install, and no hardware needed; a parts list helps anyone who wants the real parts on a desk.

For children (about 10 to 15), parents, schools, and robotics and coding centres. Teachers make a school, add classes and learners, and see their progress. Learners in a class sign in with a class code and a picture password, with no email.

Level 1 and the labs are free with no account. A free account opens every level and saves work across devices. Made by Version2 Apps.

Main path

Start here and follow it in order: circuits, your first programs, sensors, motors, then a robot of your own.

Level 1: Electricity basics

Build real circuits: loops, LEDs, motors, series and parallel, and battery packs.

  1. Current needs a loop: Batteries, LEDs and resistors
  2. Motors and switches: Spin it, reverse it, stop it
  3. Series and parallel: In a row or side by side?
  4. Battery packs: Stacking cells for a bigger push
  5. Circuits quiz: Earn the Circuit Builder badge

Level 2: BBC micro:bit

Write your first programs on the micro:bit schools use: its lights, buttons, tilt, temperature and sounds.

  1. Meet the micro:bit: Lights on
  2. Draw with lights: Pictures and coordinates
  3. Buttons and events: When this happens, do that
  4. Sensors: Temperature, shake and light
  5. Tilt and tunes: Steer a dot, play music
  6. micro:bit quiz: Earn the micro:bit Maker badge

Level 3: Program an Arduino

Meet the Arduino Uno, write your first program for it from blocks, then wire lights of your own and program them.

  1. Meet the Arduino Uno: Its pins, its power and its L light
  2. Write Blink yourself: Your first Arduino program
  3. Blink and traffic lights: Pins as outputs
  4. Two lights taking turns: Your own program for your own circuit

Level 4: Inputs and decisions

Buttons and sensors: read a pin, let the program decide with if and else, fade a light and build a night-light.

  1. Buttons and floating pins: Pins as inputs
  2. If and else: Let the program decide
  3. Fading and sensors: PWM and analog inputs
  4. Arduino quiz: Earn the Arduino Apprentice badge

Level 5: Arduino sensors

Servos, knobs, temperature, motion, distance and colour: real modules wired to an Arduino.

  1. Servo and knob: Turn to an angle, steer with a dial
  2. Hot and cold: A temperature alarm
  3. Motion and distance: Sensors that watch
  4. Colour mixing: An RGB LED
  5. Sensor quiz: Earn the Sensor Scout badge

Level 6: Motors and drivers

Why a pin can’t run a motor, the H-bridge motor driver, speed with PWM, and two motors steering like a robot.

  1. The motor driver: Direction and speed
  2. Two motors, one robot: Drive, reverse and spin
  3. Motor quiz: Earn the Motor Mechanic badge

Level 7: Build a robot

Put your circuit in a robot body, then drive it: straight, round a corner, pushing a box, and finding things with sensors.

  1. The Garage: Give your circuit a body
  2. Test drive: Straight, then round a corner
  3. Push the box: Push, and feel the grip
  4. The edge of the ring: A line sensor
  5. Seek and push: Find a box with your sensors

Level 8: Robot arena

Sumo matches against five practice robots, from easy to champion. Tune your body and your program to win.

  1. First matches: Rolly and Wall-hugger
  2. Charger: A robot that hunts you
  3. Bulldozer: Heavy, slow and strong
  4. Flipper Fred: The champion

Go deeper

Optional. The why behind it all: measuring, Ohm’s law, transistors and what is inside the chip. Dip in whenever you are curious.

Level 9: Measuring

Measure like an engineer with a multimeter, and discover Ohm’s law yourself.

  1. Meet the multimeter: Measuring the push with probes
  2. Measuring current: The ammeter goes in the loop
  3. Ohm’s law: Push, flow and resistance
  4. Measuring quiz: Earn the Measuring Master badge

Level 10: Sharing the push

Voltage dividers, the light sensor, dimmers and two roads side by side.

  1. Sharing the push: Voltage dividers
  2. Light sensor: Turning light into a number
  3. Dimmers and two roads: Side by side, and turnable
  4. Sharing quiz: Earn the Divider Designer badge

Level 11: Transistors and logic

Switches that make decisions: AND and OR gates, then switches worked by electricity.

  1. Switch logic: Build AND and OR gates
  2. Meet the transistor: A trickle controls a flood
  3. Real circuits: Night-light, motor driver, NOT gate
  4. Transistor quiz: Earn the Transistor Tamer badge

Level 12: Inside a microcontroller

Meet the ATmega328P, the chip on an Arduino Uno: its memory, its bits, its heartbeat and its 28 legs.

  1. Meet the robot brain: What lives inside a microcontroller
  2. Memory that forgets: Flash, EEPROM and RAM
  3. Bits and bytes: Why 255 is the biggest 8-bit number
  4. The heartbeat: Clock, crystal and 16 MHz
  5. Pin detective: All 28 legs of the ATmega328
  6. Interrupts and reset: Pause, handle it, carry on
  7. Boss quiz: Ten questions to earn your certificate

Level 13: Seeing signals

Use the scope to watch what a pin really does: the square wave behind a fading LED, and the pulse that steers a servo.

  1. See PWM with the scope: What “half brightness” really looks like
  2. A servo’s secret signal: An angle sent as a pulse

Mission robots

Optional. Program a two-wheel hub robot to run missions on a mat, the way school robot competition teams do. No wiring.

Level 14: Drive a mission robot

A robot with a hub for a brain: its lights and beeps, driving exact distances, turning, and turning by the gyro.

  1. Meet the hub: Lights, a beep and a first drive
  2. How far?: Centimetres and rotations
  3. Turning: Steering and quarter turns
  4. Turn with the gyro: When the wheels slip

Level 15: Robots that sense

Stop before a wall, read colours on the mat, follow a line, then run a whole mission against the clock.

  1. Stop before the wall: The distance sensor
  2. Colours on the mat: The colour sensor
  3. Follow the line: Steering by reflected light
  4. A mission run: Deliver the block and come home

Uniko EKAM kit

Optional. For learners who have the Uniko EKAM robot board.

Level 16: A real robot board

Tour the Uniko EKAM robot board in 3D, drive its pins, wire it up and upload a program.

  1. Board tour: Every part of the Uniko EKAM, in 3D
  2. Drive the Uniko EKAM: Buttons, LEDs, light sensor and PWM
  3. Wire it up: Symbols and where parts connect
  4. USB programmer: the upload bridge: Wire it up and upload a program
  5. Board quiz: Earn the Board Builder badge

Level 17: Sensors and motors

The Uniko EKAM’s parts: a servo, an IR sensor, a microphone, a TV remote and a battery charger, wired and tested.

  1. Servo motor: Wiring, angles and feedback
  2. IR sensor: Bouncing invisible light off objects
  3. Microphone: Turning sound into numbers
  4. TSOP and the IR remote: Crack the remote’s secret codes
  5. Battery and charger: Charging safely
  6. Parts quiz: Earn the Parts Expert badge

Labs

Free to use, with no account and no missions: pick one and build.

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