Day 1: Flight School and Maker Lab Orientation

Maker Pathway - Meet the Lab, Fly the Drone
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Take Off: Welcome to the Future Makers Lab

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.

Welcome to Day 1. Today you meet the three machines that make this a Future Makers Lab: a drone you can fly and code, a 3D printer that builds real objects layer by layer, and a 3D scanner that turns real objects into digital models. By the end of today you will have flown a drone through an obstacle course your own team designed.

Today's big idea: makers do not just use tools. They design, build, test, and improve. That loop is the same whether you are flying a drone, printing a part, or scanning an object. Driving question for the next three days: what can you make when the lab is yours to run?

Why this matters: these same drones are working right now - public-safety crews finding lost hikers, farmers spotting dry crops, inspectors checking under bridges so no human has to climb. This week you step into that world.

Meet Your Pitsco Echo Drone: Unboxing and Setup

Watch this Woven Learning walkthrough start to finish before you touch a drone. The drone you fly all week is the Pitsco Echo Drone - the same one all your videos, apps, and coding tools are built for.

Setup: use Chrome all week. Every tool here - this site, Tinkercad, echo.pitsco.com, the in-room apps - works best in Chrome. Open it now and leave a tab open.

Pilot Training: Your First Flight

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.
Safety Zone Briefing - read this aloud as a team before anyone flies. (1) Eyewear on. (2) Only ONE drone flies the course at a time - shout "Drone in course!" before you launch. (3) Always keep your eyes on your drone. (4) CRASH PLAN: if you lose control or are about to hit a wall or a person, push the LEFT STICK ALL THE WAY DOWN. That cuts the throttle and grounds the drone safely. Practice that reflex before you need it. (5) Students waiting their turn sit on the bench - drones never fly over the bench.
1Run the pre-flight inspection on your actual drone. One partner reads each item out loud, the other physically checks it. Open the checklist below and work through every line. Switch roles next flight.
▶Pre-Flight Inspection (open and check every line)
Today's task: connect the drone, pair the physical controller, and fly a steady hover. No code yet - just stick skills. Code Here - Pitsco Echo controller: you fly with the PHYSICAL 2.4 GHz controller, not a phone or browser. Pair the drone, then use the joysticks. Left stick = altitude (up/down) and yaw (spin in place). Right stick = pitch (tilt forward/back) and roll (tilt side to side).
Pitsco Echo Support Hub: all official videos, apps, and guides live on one page - Pitsco Echo Drone Support Materials. Open it on a tablet and SCROLL DOWN to the "Support Materials" section - that is where the videos are. Watch BEFORE flying: How to Take Off (0:39), Replace Propellers and Prop Guides (1:57), Connect Your Phone, Unboxing. Same section has the Echo App, the User Guide PDF, and the Quick-Start Coding Guide PDF (you'll use that on Day 3).

Echo Drone Antenna Adjustment

Pitsco's own walkthrough on getting your antenna set up correctly - one of the easiest pre-flight items to miss. Check this against your actual drone before your first hover.

2Install the prop guards and propellers. Match each propeller to its correct rotation position.
Before you start, watch "Echo Drone: How to Replace Propellers and Prop Guides" (1:57) on the Pitsco Support Hub - scroll down to the "Support Materials" section to find the video. It shows which prop goes where. If a prop will not seat or feels loose, stop and ask - a wrong-position or loose prop is the most common Day 1 crash cause.
3Power on the drone and controller. Confirm the drone's status light is FLASHING (bound to the controller). If it is solid, re-bind per the Pitsco Support Hub instructions (the Echo Drone Antenna Adjustment video you just watched is the same on-drone control).
4First hover. Gently raise the LEFT stick until your drone lifts to about waist height. Hold it steady for 5 seconds. Lower the left stick slowly to land. Repeat until the hover feels calm.
Before you lift off, watch "Echo Drone: How to Take Off" (0:39) on the Pitsco Support Hub - scroll down to the "Support Materials" section to find it. Then tiny stick movements - the most common beginner mistake is over-correcting. Breathe.
Held a steady 5-second hover? That is how every professional pilot's first training session begins. Celebrate, then hand the controller to your partner.

The Obstacle Course Challenge

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.

Now you put your stick skills to work. With your team, you will design a short flight path, predict how it will go, then fly it and see what really happens. This is the maker loop: design, predict, test, improve.

1With your team, set up 3 obstacles using the classroom items (hula hoops to fly through, cones to fly around). Sketch your flight path in your notebook and number the obstacles in order.

Your Hypothesis

2Before you fly, fill in this sentence in your notebook: "My team will clear the full course in ___ tries, because ___." That is it. Make a real guess, then test it.
Copy this table onto a fresh notebook page before flying. Log each attempt as you go - your notebook is your team's record. Your facilitator may also track it on the board.
Obstacle Course Log
AttemptTime (sec)Obstacles clearedWhat we'd change
1
2
3
3Fly the course manually. Take 3 attempts, max 15 minutes. Log each attempt in your notebook table as you go. Only one drone in the course at a time - shout "Drone in course!"
4Compare your hypothesis to reality. In your notebook write one sentence: what changed between attempt 1 and attempt 3, and why?
Portfolio drop - Day 1 success video: Film a 15-30 second clip of your team flying the obstacle course (the best attempt counts) and post it to the Future Makers Lab Padlet. By the end of camp you'll have 3 clips - your maker portfolio for the week.
5Record your video (15-30 seconds). Your team flying the obstacle course (the best attempt counts). You can hold the phone yourself or have your partner film while you talk.
6Open the Padlet (below). Click the + button. Fill in: - SUBJECT: "Day 1 - TeamName - Obstacle Course" - BODY (1-2 sentences): What was hardest, what changed between attempt 1 and attempt 3 - ATTACH: your video clip (or photo). Hit Publish. Your facilitator approves and the post goes live in the class portfolio.

Careers and Reflection

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.

Career Connection: Drone Pilot

9 Growing Jobs for Drone Pilots

A real look at the entry-level paths people are taking with these exact skills right now.

Career bridge: today's stick skills are the foundation of a real job. Commercial drone pilots earn roughly 50,000 to 85,000 dollars a year flying for public-safety teams, farms, construction sites, and film crews. Step one is an FAA Part 107 certificate - a test you can take at 16. You started today.
1Reflection - write in your notebook: (1) What was hardest about flying? (2) What changed between your first try and your best try? (3) Which of the three machines in this lab are you most excited to use next?
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Day 2: From Object to Model

Designer Pathway - Scan It, Design It, Print It
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What Your Drone Will Fly With Tomorrow

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.

Welcome to Day 2. Yesterday you flew a drone for the first time. Today you become a designer - and what you design today, your drone will fly with tomorrow. You will scan a real object, design a custom Mission Part in 3D, and send it to the printer. On Day 3 you mount that printed part on your drone and fly a mission with it. One project, three days, all four machines connected.

Today's big idea: the 3D scanner captures the real world EXACTLY as it is so the thing you design FITS - on the drone, on a payload, on a mounting surface. Tinkercad lets you change the scan. The printer makes the new design real. Driving question: what does your drone need to do its mission, and how do you know your design will actually fit when you bolt it on tomorrow?

Real engineering teams do this every day. Zipline drones drop medical supplies to clinics in Rwanda and Ghana. Wildlife biologists fly conservation drones over the Coachella Valley to track endangered species. Search-and-rescue crews fly over desert terrain. Every one carries a custom part someone scanned, designed, and printed. Today you do the smallest version - and your drone flies with it tomorrow.

Day in the Life of an Industrial Designer

See how a real designer moves from sketch to CAD to prototype - the same loop you run today, just scaled up.

Apple: Start a workout, without a touch.

60 seconds. A reminder of what good design looks like: a real human need taken seriously, then engineered for. Your Mission Part today is the same idea - design something for the real drone, the real mission, the real flight.

Pick your Mission Part - ONE per team. Same scan -> design -> print steps for all five. Each makes your drone do something it can't do empty-handed. Payload Cradle - holds a small object the drone carries. Scan what you'll carry (folded note, sample tube, small package). Nose Tag - a team badge that snaps onto the drone's front. Scan the nose for the snap-fit. Camera Shade - a hood that blocks sun glare from the camera. Scan the camera mount area. Landing Skid Extender - feet that clip onto the landing gear for softer landings. Scan the landing legs. Drop Hook - releases something light (flag, candy, marker) on landing. Scan the object you'll release.

Scanning Real Objects with the Einstar 2

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.
Today's task: scan the real object your Mission Part has to fit - the drone's nose, camera mount, landing legs, OR the payload you'll carry. The scan is the exact shape your part wraps around, snaps onto, or cups; without an accurate scan the part will be too tight or loose and won't work tomorrow. Two modes: LASER HD for small detailed objects, IR RAPID for larger, shiny, or dark ones. Pick the mode BEFORE you scan.

How to 3D Scan a Small Object with Einstar

Watch the full scan workflow before you start: how to hold the scanner, how to move around the object, and when the scan is complete.

Why this app: the Scan Mode Picker tells you LASER HD vs IR RAPID for your object. Answer two questions about size and surface and start in the right mode - so your first scan comes out clean.
1Write your design promise in your notebook BEFORE you scan. Fill in the blanks:
"I am scanning the ___________ so my printed ___________ (cradle / nose tag / camera shade / landing skid extender / drop hook) will ___________ (hold it / snap onto it / clip onto it / cup around it) on tomorrow's flight." This sentence is your design promise. If your print does not do what you wrote, the design failed - and you will know exactly why.
2Open the Scan Mode Picker above. Choose your object's size and surface. Note which mode it recommends and write it in your notebook with one reason why.
3Set the Einstar 2 to the recommended mode. Place YOUR OBJECT (the one in your design promise above) on the turntable or a plain surface with space around it. Make sure nothing is touching the part of the object your printed Mission Part needs to wrap around, hold, or snap onto - that part has to be visible to the scanner.
4Scan: move the scanner slowly and evenly around the object, keeping it in the distance range the software shows. Fill in any holes the software flags. Stop when the model looks complete from every side.
Slow and steady beats fast. Watch the on-screen color guide - green means good distance.
5Export your scan as an STL or OBJ file and save it to the lab computer. Name the file with your team name and your Mission Part (e.g. team-blue-cradle-tube.stl). This file is what your Tinkercad design will be built around in the next phase.
6Compare: did the recommended mode give you a clean scan? In your notebook, write one sentence - if you would pick a different mode next time, why?

Designing in Tinkercad

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.
Today's task: build the Mission Part you promised - check the design promise in your notebook for exactly what to build. The core move for every part: drop your scanned object into Tinkercad as a Hole, then build the part AROUND it. The hole leaves a cavity the real object snaps, slides, or clips into. That's why you scanned. Add your team name or initials on a visible face. Keep it under 60mm in any direction so it prints fast, and lightweight - your drone carries it tomorrow. Code Here - Tinkercad: open https://www.tinkercad.com/ in Chrome (no download). Sign in with your facilitator's class code, then Create -> 3D Design.

Tinkercad Tutorial for Beginners

Watch this before you build. It covers Place, Move, Rotate, Resize, and Group - the five moves you need today.

1Import your scan into Tinkercad as a reference shape, then build your Mission Part AROUND it.
In Tinkercad: Import (the icon in the right sidebar) -> upload your .STL file from the scan. Make the imported scan a Hole (so it cuts a perfectly-shaped cavity into your Mission Part instead of becoming part of it). Then build the outside of your Mission Part with Tinkercad shapes around it. When you Group, the scan-shaped hole is left behind - that's the spot the real object snaps, slides, or clips into. Real designers always sketch first - glance at your notebook sketch + your design-promise sentence as you build.
Why this app: your printer's AMS (Automatic Material System - the box on top holding 4 spools, swaps colors mid-print) prints up to 4 colors at once. Use the Color Planner to assign a color to each part of your model and estimate filament per color - so your print looks intentional, not random.
2Open the Color Planner above. Assign a color to each part of your model (name, body, base, accent). Write your color plan in your notebook so you can set it the same way in the print software.

How to Export Your Tinkercad Design as STL

A 60-second walkthrough: Export, choose .STL, save to Downloads. Same steps every time.

3Export your finished design as an STL file and save it with your first name in the filename (for example: maria-nameplate.stl).

Print It and Careers

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.
Today's task: submit your STL to the Print Queue Padlet below. Your facilitator reviews and approves each file, then prints it. Your printed Mission Part comes back tomorrow morning - that's what mounts on your drone for the flight.

Multi-Color 3D Printing with the Bambu AMS

See how the AMS swaps between 4 colors automatically and how a multi-color print is set up. This is the machine printing your design.

Why this Padlet: the Print Queue is separate from your showcase wall - it is where your printable .stl FILE goes so your facilitator can review and print it. One post per person.
1Open the Print Queue below. Click +, set SUBJECT to your first name + part (e.g. "Maya - Nose Tag"), ATTACH your .stl file, and Publish. Submit from the computer you designed on - your .stl is already saved there.

Career Connection: Advanced Manufacturing

Day in the Life of a Manufacturing Engineer

A real engineer at Texas Instruments shows how digital design becomes physical, manufactured parts - the grown-up version of what you did today.

Career bridge: turning a digital model into a real object that fits a specific person is a whole industry. Manufacturing engineers and digital-fabrication technicians earn roughly 60,000 to 110,000 dollars a year; assistive-technology designers and prosthetists earn roughly 65,000 to 95,000. Many start at a community college like College of the Desert. The scan -> design -> print workflow you ran today is the entry point for both.
2Reflection - write in your notebook: (1) Which was harder, scanning or designing? (2) What would you change about your model if you had another hour? (3) What is one real object you would want to scan and remake?
Portfolio drop - Day 2 success video: Film a 15-30 second clip of your scan + your Tinkercad design (a 15-30 sec screen recording panning across both, or just two strong photos) and post it to the Future Makers Lab Padlet. By the end of camp you'll have 3 clips - your maker portfolio for the week.
3Record your video (15-30 seconds). Your scan + your tinkercad design (a 15-30 sec screen recording panning across both, or just two strong photos). You can hold the phone yourself or have your partner film while you talk.
4Open the Padlet (below). Click the + button. Fill in: - SUBJECT: "Day 2 - TeamName - Scan + Design" - BODY (1-2 sentences): What you scanned, what you designed in Tinkercad, the colors you picked for the AMS print - ATTACH: your video clip (or photo). Hit Publish. Your facilitator approves and the post goes live in the class portfolio.
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Day 3: Design, Print, Fly and Pitch

Mission Day - Mount, Predict, Fly, Pitch
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Mission Brief

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.

Welcome to Day 3. Today is mission day. The drone you piloted Monday, the Mission Part you scanned-and-designed-and-printed Tuesday - today they fly together. Find your printed Mission Part at the front of the room. Mount it. Predict whether the drone will still hover with it. Then write the code that flies your drone on its own.

Today's big idea: a real engineering team does not stop at building - they predict, fly, observe, and improve. Driving question: will your drone fly the way you predicted with your Mission Part attached, and what does the result teach you about the design?

Today's mission: mount your Mission Part, predict whether the drone can still fly, write autonomous code that takes off and flies a search pattern, then pitch your build. Same loop real teams run every day - Zipline delivering medicine in Rwanda, biologists tracking species over the Coachella Valley, search-and-rescue crews over hard-to-reach terrain. Your mission is the smallest version. The flight is real.

The Physics of Drones

Watch how payload (the weight a drone carries) changes flight. Your Mission Part is the payload today - so weight matters.

Mount and Predict

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.
Today's task: mount yesterday's printed Mission Part, weigh the drone with it attached, then use the Lift Calculator to predict if it will hover - BEFORE you fly. If it says GROUNDED, make a quick fix (hollow it out, shave it down) and retry. Real drone engineers do this every time they add weight.
1Mount your Mission Part on the drone in the spot you designed it for. Use the mounting tape or velcro at the front of the room. Make sure it is secure but not blocking the propellers, the camera, or the battery.
2Weigh the drone WITH your Mission Part attached on the gram scale at the front. Write the total weight in your notebook. Subtract the drone's empty weight (your facilitator wrote it on the board) to get your part's weight.
Why this app: a drone can only carry so much. Lift-to-Weight is the ratio of propeller push to total weight (drone + your part). Above ~1.2 it hovers easily; near 1.0 it struggles. Use the Lift Calculator to predict whether your drone hovers with the Mission Part attached.
3Open the Lift Calculator above. Enter your drone's mass in the "Drone mass" field and your Mission Part's weight (from the scale) in "Payload mass". Read the verdict: HOVER, BARELY HOVER, or GROUNDED.
If you get GROUNDED or BARELY HOVER, make your part lighter - take it off the drone, open it in Tinkercad, hollow it out or shrink it, submit a quick reprint, and check the calculator again. If you cannot reprint in time, your facilitator may give you a piece of velcro and a lighter swap-in piece for the flight.
4Write your prediction in your notebook as one sentence: "With my Mission Part attached, my drone will _________ (HOVER / BARELY HOVER / be GROUNDED) because Lift-to-Weight is _________."
5After Phase 3's autonomous flight, come back to this notebook page and write what actually happened. Did the drone fly the way the calculator predicted? In one sentence: what did the model get right or miss?

Autonomous Flight with Echo Coding

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.
Safety refresher before any flight: eyewear on, one drone in the course at a time, eyes on your drone, and if anything goes wrong push the LEFT STICK ALL THE WAY DOWN to ground it. With autonomous code the drone flies itself - so keep a hand near the controller and be ready to take over or cut throttle.

Mission: Fly a Square by Itself

Today's task: switch from hand-flying to AUTONOMOUS code. Write a short program, run it, and the drone flies the path itself. First mission: a square search pattern, like a public-safety drone scanning an area. Code Here - Pitsco Echo: open https://echo.pitsco.com in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge on a laptop or Chromebook (NOT Safari and NOT an iPad - it will not connect there) - 100% web-based, no download or account. Echo pairs over the LAPTOP's Bluetooth, so turn the laptop's Bluetooth ON and power the controller OFF first (the drone will not take code from the browser while it is still paired to its controller). Then follow your facilitator's on-screen prompts to pair your drone, build your program with blocks, then run it. The drone's OFF switch and the physical controller are your kill switches. Reference: the Echo Drone Quick-Start Coding Guide PDF on the Pitsco Support Hub (scroll to "Support Materials") has exact button names, the full block list, and example programs - same hub as Day 1.
1Open the Echo Drone Quick-Start Coding Guide PDF on a tablet at your station. Skim pages 1-3 so you recognize the Echo interface BEFORE you open it.
Find the PDF on the Pitsco Echo Drone Support Hub - scroll down to the "Support Materials" section. It has the real screenshots and the canonical block names.
2Open https://echo.pitsco.com in Chrome. Follow your facilitator's walk-through to pair your drone (the exact prompts may vary - your facilitator did a dry run before class).
3Build a square search pattern with blocks: take off, then four times (move forward, turn 90 degrees), then land. Keep the distances small for your space.
4Clear the area, shout "Drone in course!", and run your program. Watch your drone fly the square by itself. Max 20 minutes of tuning - adjust distances and angles until the square closes.
If the square does not close, your turn angle or your move distance is off. Change one thing at a time.
Your drone flew a search pattern with zero hands on the sticks? That's autonomous flight - the skill behind search-and-rescue, crop scanning, and bridge inspection drones. You wrote code that controlled a flying robot. Celebrate, then get ready to pitch.

Pitch and Reflect

Woven notebook: open your notebook now. As you move through this phase, write your answers to every reflection, prediction, and design question before moving on. Your notebook is the record of your thinking.
Final task: build your portfolio and prepare a 60-second team pitch. Makers don't write long reports - they present in a few clear bullets. Your pitch is 3 bullets, not a speech.
1Assemble your portfolio page in your notebook (or digitally): a photo of your 3D scan, a photo of your printed object, one sentence on your autonomous flight, and the career that excited you most.
2Write your 60-second team pitch as exactly 3 bullets: (1) What we made, (2) Why it matters / what problem it solves, (3) What we would improve with more time.
3Deliver your pitch to the room. Every team gets 60 seconds.

Career Connection: Where This Goes Next

What Does an Aerospace Engineer Do?

A real engineer shows the design-test-improve loop you ran all week, scaled up to aircraft and spacecraft.

Career bridge: this week you ran the full maker loop - design, scan, print, code, fly, pitch. Those are the building blocks of careers in engineering, drone operations, advanced manufacturing, and design, with starting pay often 55,000 to over 90,000 dollars. College of the Desert teaches every one of these tools - this lab is your on-ramp.
4Final reflection - write in your notebook: (1) What are you proudest of from these three days? (2) Which machine do you want to learn more about? (3) What would you make next if the lab were open tomorrow?
Portfolio drop - Day 3 success video: Film a 15-30 second clip of your full mission story: a quick pan over your printed Mission Part on the drone, a short clip of your autonomous flight, and your team's 3-bullet pitch on camera (60 seconds is plenty) and post it to the Future Makers Lab Padlet. By the end of camp you'll have 3 clips - your maker portfolio for the week.
5Record your video (15-30 seconds). Your full mission story: a quick pan over your printed mission part on the drone, a short clip of your autonomous flight, and your team's 3-bullet pitch on camera (60 seconds is plenty). You can hold the phone yourself or have your partner film while you talk.
6Open the Padlet (below). Click the + button. Fill in: - SUBJECT: "Day 3 - TeamName - Mission + Pitch" - BODY (1-2 sentences): What your Mission Part is, what the drone did with it, what you would improve with more time - ATTACH: your video clip (or photo). Hit Publish. Your facilitator approves and the post goes live in the class portfolio.
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