15 Robotics Projects for Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Curious about robotics as a middle schooler? Consider working on your own robotics project!
A project in robotics involves using programming code, electronics, and creativity to build machines that move, sense, or react. These projects can be small, but they can still teach you important problem-solving and technical skills along the way. If you’re in middle school, robotic projects are mostly beginner-friendly builds that focus on basic movement, sensing, or interaction using simple materials such as motors, microcontrollers, and sensors. These projects are designed to be approachable even if you’ve never worked with code or circuits before. Most can be done with kits or household items, and they help you learn step by step while building something you can test and improve.
Why should I do a project in middle school?
Starting robotic projects in middle school gives you a big advantage–you get the chance to try out ideas early, which helps you build confidence and see what you do enjoy. Over time, your simple projects can evolve into more advanced designs or even lead to science fair entries or competitions. And if you ever decide to study engineering or computer science later on, you'll already have experience that many others only start gaining in high school.
Line-Following Robot
What you’ll do: You’ll build a robot that can follow a path all by itself using sensors that detect the contrast between black and white lines. The key part is programming the robot to read the sensor input and adjust its direction to stay on track. You’ll experiment with how the robot reacts to sharp turns or intersections, which can make things a bit more challenging. It’s a fun way to learn about basic sensor feedback loops and control logic. Once it’s working, you can even create your custom tracks to test it further.
Materials/investment required: Line sensors, Arduino or micro:bit, wheels/motors, basic chassis, batteries
Suitable for: Beginners with some interest in basic coding and electronics
Obstacle-Avoiding Robot
What you’ll do: This project involves designing a robot that can detect and avoid obstacles in its path using distance sensors such as ultrasonic or infrared. You'll program the robot to stop, turn, or back up whenever it senses something ahead. Testing it around your room or hallway will show how well it navigates unexpected situations. You’ll likely spend time tweaking how close it can get before turning and what angles it turns at.
Materials/investment required: Ultrasonic distance sensor, Arduino or micro:bit, wheels, chassis, motors, battery pack
Suitable for: Beginners to intermediate students with basic programming experience
Robotic Arm with Manual Controls
What you’ll do: In this project, you'll build a simple robotic arm that moves when you press buttons or flip switches. Each joint is powered by a servo motor. You’ll learn how to wire and control them to lift or rotate light objects. You’ll also figure out how different joints work together to make smooth movements. It’s not too complex, but it gives you a closer look at the mechanics behind real-world robotic arms. You might even try picking up paper cups or stacking blocks.
Materials/investment required: Servo motors, microcontroller (like Arduino), push buttons, wires, cardboard or plastic parts
Suitable for: Beginners with some interest in mechanical design and motor control
Solar-Powered Bug Bot
What you’ll do: This lightweight robot is powered by a small solar panel and wiggles or crawls around when exposed to sunlight. You’ll put together the circuit, mount a motor, and design legs or wheels that move when the sun hits it. Since it runs on solar energy, you won’t need any batteries or complex code - just a simple motor circuit. The fun part is testing how it behaves in different lighting conditions and modifying its design to make it faster or more stable.
Materials/investment required: Small solar panel, vibration or DC motor, wires, base material like foam or plastic
Suitable for: Beginners with minimal electronics experience
Dance Bot with Pre-Programmed Moves
What you’ll do: In this creative project, you’ll design a robot that can perform a dance routine using timed motor movements. You’ll use a microcontroller to write simple sequences–like spinning, shaking, or stepping–and watch your robot show off its routine. You can match the movements to music, or even lights if you want to take it further. It’s less about reacting to the environment and more about planning and timing actions. You’ll get to experiment with how different motor speeds and delays create personality in the robot’s moves.
Materials/investment required: Microcontroller (Arduino or micro:bit), servos or DC motors, wheels or legs, wires, frame material
Suitable for: Beginners to intermediate students interested in creative coding and performance-based robotics
Maze-Solving Robot
What you’ll do: This project challenges you to create a robot that can find its way through a simple maze using programmed instructions or basic sensors. You’ll design the path, build the robot, and experiment with strategies like following walls or turning based on sensor input. Each trial gives you a chance to adjust your logic to help the robot get through faster or with more accuracy. You can keep the maze small and adjust the layout as you improve.
Materials/investment required: Arduino or micro:bit, distance or IR sensors, wheels, chassis, motors, cardboard maze
Suitable for: Intermediate students familiar with basic sensor programming
Voice-Controlled Robot
What you’ll do: In this project, you’ll connect your robot to a device or app that listens to simple voice commands such as “forward” or “stop”. You’ll learn how to use speech recognition tools and send signals that control the robot’s movement. It’s all about translating your words into actions through code and hardware. Once it’s working, you can test different commands or try controlling it from across the room. The robot won’t be very fast, but getting it to follow your voice is the main goal.
Materials/investment required: Bluetooth module or WiFi microcontroller (like ESP32), smartphone, motors, chassis, voice app
Suitable for: Intermediate students with some coding and Bluetooth setup experience
Light-Following Robot
What you’ll do: This robot uses light sensors to move toward the brightest light source, which means you’ll be working with analog inputs and basic motor control. You’ll figure out how to read the sensor data and tell the motors which direction to move. You’ll also see how small differences in light levels affect its path. The setup is fairly simple, and it teaches you about using sensors to guide behavior.
Materials/investment required: Light-dependent resistors (LDRs), Arduino or micro:bit, motors, wheels, chassis
Suitable for: Beginners with an interest in sensor-based projects
Drawing Robot
What you’ll do: This project turns your robot into a simple artist by attaching a pen and programming it to move in patterns on paper. You’ll focus on getting the movement just right so it can draw shapes like squares, spirals, or even random doodles. It may take some testing to get clean lines, especially if you’re using wheels or servo arms. Once it works, you can experiment with different pen placements or drawing surfaces. It’s a fun mix of robotics and design without needing complicated parts.
Materials/investment required: Microcontroller, motors or servos, pen holder, paper, basic frame
Suitable for: Beginners to intermediate students interested in mechanical creativity
Ball-Collecting Robot
What you’ll do: The goal is to build a robot that can scoop or push small balls into a designated area. You’ll design a front-facing scoop or claw and program basic forward and turning motions. A major part of the challenge lies in figuring out how to guide the robot to find and collect objects without needing advanced vision systems. It works best on a flat surface with a few lightweight balls scattered around.
Materials/investment required: Motors, wheels, chassis, scoop/claw (plastic or cardboard), controller board
Suitable for: Beginners with an interest in object manipulation projects
Morse Code Signaling Robot
What you’ll do: This project focuses on programming a robot to send out Morse code messages using light or sound signals. You’ll write code that makes an LED blink or a buzzer beep in short and long bursts, depending on the letters of your message. It’s a mix of simple output control and timing, which means you’ll need to carefully plan when each signal starts and stops. Once it’s working, you can try encoding different words or phrases.
Materials/investment required: Microcontroller (Arduino works well), LED or buzzer, jumper wires, breadboard
Suitable for: Beginners with basic programming skills
Simple Walking Robot (Two-Leg Walker)
What you’ll do: Instead of using wheels, this robot uses two “legs” that swing forward one at a time to create a walking motion. You’ll build the frame and use servo motors to power each leg, experimenting with how timing and balance affect its steps. It may wobble or fall at first, but adjusting the motion can make a big difference. You’ll explore how mechanical movement works without needing too many complex parts. Flat surfaces work best for testing.
Materials/investment required: Servo motors, Arduino or micro:bit, lightweight frame (cardboard or plastic), batteries
Suitable for: Intermediate students interested in mechanical motion and timing
Temperature-Sensing Fan Bot
What you’ll do: In this project, you’ll make a small robotic setup that turns on a fan automatically when it gets too warm. You’ll use a temperature sensor to detect heat and program your controller to spin a small fan once the reading passes a certain point. It’s a basic example of how robots can respond to real-world conditions using sensors. You can test it by warming the sensor with your hand or a lamp and observing how the system reacts.
Materials/investment required: Temperature sensor (like LM35 or DHT11), microcontroller, mini fan or motor, wires
Suitable for: Beginners exploring sensor-based automation
RC Car Hack: Turn a Toy Car Into a Robot
What you’ll do: You’ll modify a simple remote-controlled car so it can move on its own using a microcontroller. You’ll remove or bypass the manual controls and write your code to control speed and direction. You might even add basic sensors to avoid obstacles or follow a path. This kind of project gives you a hands-on look at how consumer electronics can be repurposed for robotics.
Materials/investment required: RC car, Arduino or similar board, H-bridge motor driver, wires, optional sensors
Suitable for: Intermediate students with some hardware tinkering experience
Pet Feeder Robot
What you’ll do: This robot is built to release small amounts of food at set times using a motorized dispenser. You’ll write a schedule in your code and connect a servo or motor to control when the food drops into a bowl. It’s a useful project that combines time-based automation with mechanical design. You can test it with cereal or small pellets to see how the dispenser behaves.
Materials/investment required: Servo motor, microcontroller, container for food, basic frame or platform, batteries
Suitable for: Beginners to intermediate students interested in building useful automated systems
Looking to work on your robotics project with expert mentorship? Consider the program below!
Location: Virtual
Application Deadline: Rolling deadlines
Program Dates: 25 hours over 10 weeks (spring cohort, weekends) or 25 hours over 2 weeks (summer cohort, weekdays)
Eligibility: Students in grades 6-8
The AI Trailblazers program by Veritas AI is a virtual program that teaches middle school students the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Over 25 hours, you will learn the basics of Python as well as topics like data analysis, regression, image classification, neural networks, and AI ethics. Students learn through lectures and group sessions with a 5:1 student-to-mentor ratio. Previous student projects have included building a machine-learning model to classify music genres and creating a machine-learning algorithm to provide a custom list of educational resources based on selected specifications.
One more option—The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program
The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program is a program for middle school students to work one-on-one with a mentor to explore their academic interests and build a project they are passionate about. Our mentors are scholars from top research universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Duke, and LSE.
The program was founded by a Harvard & Oxford PhD who met as undergraduates at Harvard. The program is rigorous and fully virtual. We offer need-based financial aid for students who qualify. You can find the application in the brochure! To learn more, you can reach out to our Director, Dhruva, at dhruva.bhat@lumiere.education, or go to our website.
Multiple rolling deadlines for JEP cohorts across the year, you can apply using this application link! If you'd like to take a look at the upcoming cohorts + deadlines, you can refer to this page!
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
Image Source - Lumiere Education logo