This short lesson plan includes two levels of robotics: Basics and Gears. Start with the basics as an introduction and then move on to the more-complicated and more-enthusing Gears. Includes background in popular fiction, a discussion of Asimov’s Law of Robotics, how to get students started, how to make this student-directed and self-paced, and how to wrap up the year with bot battles. Students build and program their robots in groups, keep a running online journal with images and movies to shar