We are raising funds to launch the new "Creator Bots" educational monthly subscription box that will feature an exciting Mars space exploration theme. This is our second robot and each month will include lessons in building and coding, all woven into a larger narrative of space exploration challenges! The funds are being used to create the subscription experience, including the development of a 12-month curriculum and storyline that follows the adventures of Mars Rover Creator Bot.

With our proven curriculum and brand new Mars mission challenges, kids will learn problem-solving, engineering, and coding in a fun and engaging way! The easy to follow curriculum and challenges lead students through the story of the Mars Rover Creator Bot as it lands on Mars and creatively adapts to the challenges of living on a Martian world.

Month 1: You made it to Mars! Your spaceship took off traveling 36,000 miles per hour! At that speed, you made it to Mars in 39 days. Yay!!! Now that you're living on Mars, you'll need a way to get around the planet. Your first mission will be to assemble your Mars Rover chassis and all 4 motors. Act fast, your next shipment of space supplies will be here soon!

Month 2: Send a signal back to Earth! Your shipment of space supplies just arrived, but it's missing those walkie-talkie radios you wanted! Don't worry - we've got a plan. Using your Arduino board and LED lights, you will signal to mission control using special light patterns and Morse code, letting everyone know that you made it safely and that you are ready for your next shipment of space supplies!

Month 3: Get more control of your signal lights! Good news, mission control received your signals successfully! Let's build on this success with even more tools, like switches, buttons, touch sensors and control knobs, that you can use to operate your signal lights. This will help you communicate with mission control more effectively and help you get the parts you need to complete the rest of your mission!

Scroll below to check out mission #4 through #12...

We are committed to making STEM education accessible to everyone! For every full kit of the Mars Rover Creator Bot purchased on Kickstarter, CodeREV Kids will deliver a free hour of engineering or coding instruction to a student in an underserved community.

Key Features of the Mars Rover Creator Bot 

- Uniquely designed and manufactured snap connector pieces completely eliminate screws

- Display messages and sensor data on your LCD screen

- Control the speed of two fan motors on the back spoiler for extra speed

- Record and playback a voice recording or sound effect from your car

- Use line sensors to follow a line around a race track

- Use the three ultrasonic sensors to avoid obstacles

- Change the color of your smile by using an IR remote, rainbow LED panel and relay

- Hook up to a PS2 controller

- Comes with a variety of entry-level sensors and lights that help build the basics of circuitry and code

Mars Rover Creator Bots are the perfect open-source robot for kids to build and code themselves! Mars Rover Creator bot is Arduino driven & aligns to Computer Science Teachers Association's K-12 Learning Standards (CSTA) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The full kit includes over 60 hours of fun, project-based exploration. Created for children ages 9-14 in mind, even adults enjoy building and coding the Mars Rover!

Months #4 through #12

Month 4: Watch out for Aliens! Are you noticing anything strange on your new home planet? Is it possible that you have alien visitors?!? Let's program your new motion sensor to automatically play an audio message welcoming any aliens in case they try to sneak up on you. And just to be safe, let's also program your wind turbines to kick up a martian dust storm in case you need to escape from those aliens!

Month 5: A meteor shower is coming - TIME TO MOVE!!! After making contact with the aliens, you have discovered that they are friendly! There's no time to relax, however, because the aliens just warned you that a dangerous meteor shower is on its way to Mars, so you'll need to move to another part of the planet quick. Luckily, your latest space shipment has just come in, giving you all the parts you need to program your Mars Rover to help you reach safety!

Month 6: Chart an escape route for your Mars Rover to follow! That meteor shower is almost here! It's time to move your space camp FAST, but there are several obstacles in the way. Find an escape route that your Mars Rover can follow, while you first get to safety yourself. To do this, you will need to program your Mars Rover to follow your escape route on its own using the new line sensors you just received!

Month 7: Teach your Mars Rover to drive itself! Great work! You got away from that meteor shower safely and your Mars Rover did too, but now you are on a completely new part of the planet! You don't have the energy to explore this new terrain now, but you need to get an idea of where you are. So let's program your Mars Rover to explore this sector of the planet on its own, using the new ultrasonic sensors you just received!

Month 8: Defend yourself against space monsters! Uh oh!!! Your self-driving Mars Rover discovered that there are space monsters on this part of the planet. These space monsters are scared of colorful flying objects - so let's build a space ball launcher that will send colorful balls and other objects high into the air to scare away any space monsters who might want to invade your space camp!

Month 9: Get a grip with your robotic claw! The space ball launcher has worked! Those space monsters are long gone, but now, you need to retrieve all the balls you launched so they are ready to use again in case you need them. The balls are too heavy and too spread out to carry them back yourself, so you'll need to program your robotic claw to help you get the job done!

Month 10: Remote control your Mars Rover from anywhere! Are you ready to explore Mars with no limits? After 10 months living on Mars, your skills as a programmer and engineer have become so advanced that you can now program your Mars Rover to be activated by a video game controller! Get ready for the ultimate remote control car experience - the one you make yourself!

Month 11: Solar eclipse - time to shine! After joy-riding around the planet for a few weeks you've realized that a total solar eclipse is coming! That means complete darkness, making it too dangerous to continue driving. But wait! Your most recent space shipment includes electroluminescent wire, so you can outfit your Mars Rover with it's own light source, making it easy to drive in total darkness!

Month 12: Getting back home? Amazing, you've been living on Mars for a full year! You've learned how to signal in Morse code. You've mastered motion, line, and ultrasonic sensors. You've launched space balls and retrieved them with a robotic claw. You even programmed your Mars Rover for remote control! Now it's time to take everything you've learned and figure out how on Earth you are going to get back to Earth!

Team 

Blair MacLeod, the Head of Robotics Curriculum at CodeREV Kids and mechanical engineer, developed the Mars Rover Creator Bot over the past three and a half years. She started as an instructor and curriculum writer at CodeREV Kids during her college summers and has worked in engineering labs with drones, rockets, and embedded systems. In addition to creating and developing the Mars Rover Creator Bot, Blair trains educators around the world to deliver innovative STEAM learning experiences.

Evan Boorman, the CEO and Founder of CodeREV Kids, has over 15 years of experience in STEM education and entrepreneurship. CodeREV delivers summer tech camps and STEAM curriculum to children and schools grades K-12 across the country. For more information on CodeREV Kids, visit coderevkids.com.