RoboMaze

RoboMaze is a classroom programming activity for secondary-school pupils using a BBC micro:bit, Microsoft MakeCode Python and the Kitronik :MOVE Motor.

The pupil-facing resources are published using GitHub Pages.

Website

https://robomaze.alexanderdenton.dev

Teaching Approach

The activity is designed so that pupils do not have to build every piece of motor-control code from scratch.

The starter code provides:

• a completed turn_right_90() function;
• a completed move_to_wall() function;
• the required hardware setup code.

Pupils then:

1. analyse the maze;
2. adjust speed and turnTime until the supplied right turn is approximately 90 degrees;
3. copy and adapt the right-turn code to create turn_left_90();
4. test the ultrasonic sensor and choose distanceToWall;
5. test the supplied move_to_wall() function using that distance;
6. sequence the movement functions inside navigate_maze() to escape the maze.

The variables pupils are expected to adjust are kept together at the top of main.py because they are central to the activity.

Repository Contents

• index.md - GitHub Pages homepage
• instructions.md - pupil setup and Tasks 1-6
• cheat-sheet.md - pupil programming reference
• starter-code.md - website page containing copyable starter code
• teacher.md - teacher/source page containing the completed solution
• license.md - website licence page
• main.py - pupil starter template
• solution.py - completed example solution
• _layouts/ - shared Jekyll page layout
• _includes/ - shared site navigation
• assets/ - site CSS and JavaScript
• CNAME - GitHub Pages custom domain
• LICENSE - MIT licence

Intended Pupil Workflow

Pupils should normally use the RoboMaze website rather than browsing the GitHub repository directly.

They can:

1. open the activity instructions;
2. open Microsoft MakeCode in a separate browser tab;
3. copy the starter code into MakeCode;
4. work through Tasks 1-6;
5. use the cheat sheet whenever required;
6. return to the starter-code page for a fresh copy if their code becomes badly broken.

The completed solution remains available for teachers, maintainers and people using RoboMaze independently.

GitHub Pages

The site is built with Jekyll and is intended to use:

• Source: Deploy from a branch
• Branch: master
• Folder: /(root)

The custom domain is:

robomaze.alexanderdenton.dev

License

RoboMaze is open-source software released under the MIT License.

Copyright © 2026 Alexander Denton.

See LICENSE for the full licence terms.

Website Setup Visuals

The website includes setup screenshots showing pupils how to:

• create a MakeCode project called RoboMaze;
• change Code options to Python Only;
• click Extensions on the left-hand side;
• select the kitronik-move-motor extension tile.

These visuals make the setup stage more explicit for classroom use.

The setup screenshots are styled through the shared site CSS so they remain responsive and visually secondary to the written instructions. This keeps the Markdown files clean when browsing the repository directly on GitHub.