Could that tree reach the house if it fell? CoDrone EDU can help students find out!

In this challenge, students will step into the role of drone operators assisting with a tree assessment. Their job is to use CoDrone EDU to collect and analyze data and identify which trees may need a closer look from an arborist. 

Today, professionals working in arboriculture, forestry, environmental science, utilities, and other natural-resource careers can use drones and smart technology to gather information about the environments they manage.

Students will explore a simplified version of that work by programming CoDrone EDU to survey five simulated (or pretend) trees. They'll collect elevation data using the drone's barometer, convert measurements from meters to feet, and use conditional statements to determine which trees could potentially reach a nearby house. 

Along the way, students will see how classroom STEM skills - including coding, math, data collection, analysis, and problem-solving - can become career skills.

This activity is directly from our  free curriculum, Robolink Learn, and is Blockly Lesson 4.4. It includes a Code-Along, which allows students to see the lesson and build their program simultaneously. 

Share pictures and videos of your students measuring their trees  on social media for a chance to win a CoDrone EDU to add to your fleet. Be sure to tag @robolinkinc in your post to be entered to win! 

Classroom Set Up

• 1 CoDrone EDU per group

• 1 CoDrone EDU - compatible device

• 5 objects or markers to represent "trees"

• 1 object or marker to represent a "house"

• Takeoff and landing space for each group

Place five "tree" locations throughout the flight area and designate one location as the house. For this simulation, each tree is considered to be 2.5 feet away from the house.

Tip: The physical classroom layout does not need to use the 2.5-foot measurement. That number represents the simulated distance between each tree and the house. Drones should have plenty of room to fly safely!

No objects to act as trees? No problem! Students don't need physical trees of different heights. Instead, the height CoDrone EDU reaches at each location will represent the height of that tree.

Diagram

Tree 1　　　　　　Tree 2

　　　　　🏠
　　　 HOUSE

Tree 3　　　　　　Tree 4

　　　　 Tree 5

Challenge 1

Before students can make a recommendation, they need data!

Their first assignment is to conduct a drone survey of the five trees.

Students will start by placing their drone next to “Tree 1”. Students should either program their drone to the same height as “Tree 1” or fly to a random height and use its barometer to measure its elevation. This measurement will represent the height of Tree 1.

The drone should then land and move to a new location before beginning the next measurement.

Students will repeat the process until they've surveyed five different trees. By the end of the survey, they should have an elevation measurement for Tree 1, Tree 2, Tree 3, Tree 4, and Tree 5.

Challenge 2

The students have collected their data. Now they need to make sense of it!

CoDrone EDU's elevation measurement is given in meters, but the simulated house is 2.5 feet away from each tree. To compare the measurements, they need to use the same unit.

Students can use this conversion:

1 meter = 3.28084 feet

Students should update their programs to convert each tree's elevation from meters to feet. Then, their programs should print the tree number and its height in feet after each measurement.

The output might look something like:

Tree 1: 1.8 ft
Tree 2: 3.1 ft
Tree 3: 2.4 ft

Need a refresher on converting sensor measurements with code? Check out this Robolink Learn conversion lesson.

Don't have time to program the code to do the calculations? Students can calculate the measurements the old-fashioned way—with pencil and paper (or a handy calculator).

Challenge 3

Now it's time for students to put their data to work. They need to take their data and determine, as an arborist: does this tree present a risk to the house?

For this simulation, the house is 2.5 feet away from each tree. Again, it doesn't need to actually be 2.5 feet away in the classroom.

If a tree is at least 2.5 feet tall, the house would be within that tree's simulated fall radius. That doesn't mean the tree will fall. It means an arborist may want to take a closer look.

Students should use a conditional statement to compare each tree's height with its distance from the house.

Their programs should determine:

Tree height ≥ 2.5 ft → Needs further assessment

Tree height < 2.5 ft → Outside simulated fall radius

For example:

Tree 1: 1.9 ft — Outside fall radius
Tree 2: 3.2 ft — Needs further assessment
Tree 3: 2.7 ft — Needs further assessment

(insert picture of conditional statement blocks)

At the end of the survey, students should program CoDrone EDU to print a list of the trees identified for further assessment.

It's important to remind students that their programs aren't determining whether a tree is dangerous. Instead, they're using data to help identify where additional attention from a professional may be needed.

Extension

Real trees aren't all planted the same distance from a building. To make the survey more realistic, each tree can be assigned a different distance from the house.

For example:

Students can update their programs to compare each tree's height with its own distance from the house and determine whether the new measurements change their assessment.

For an extra challenge, rather than providing the distances, students can measure the classroom setup themselves and use those measurements as inputs in their programs.

Real World

The STEM skills students practice in this challenge don't stop at the classroom door.

Professionals working in arboriculture, forestry, environmental science, utilities, land management, and other fields can use drones to collect information from perspectives that may be difficult, time-consuming, or unsafe to reach from the ground.

Drones are also only one part of a growing technology toolkit. Cameras, specialized sensors, mapping software, and AI can help professionals collect, organize, and understand information about the environments they manage.

The technology doesn't replace the professional expertise behind the assessment. An arborist, for example, may need to consider the health and condition of a tree, its surroundings, weather, soil, and many other factors before determining whether that tree poses a real risk.

The technology provides more information to work with. The professional provides the expertise to use it.

That's where STEM skills can become career skills.

Students followed a simplified version of a professional workflow throughout this activity:

Plan the mission → Collect data → Analyze results → Identify potential hazards → Recommend next steps

Those skills can connect to careers such as arborist, forester, drone pilot/UAS operator, environmental scientist, GIS technician, and utility vegetation management specialist. Although the tools and responsibilities may look different from career to career, many rely on the same foundation of STEM knowledge, technical skills, data analysis, and problem-solving.

To see how these technologies are already being used in the field, explore AI in Tree Care: How Drones & Smart Technology Are Transforming the Industry.

Wrap Up

Throughout this challenge, students did more than program a drone to fly. They programmed CoDrone EDU, collected sensor data, used math to convert measurements, analyzed results, and used code to help make a recommendation.

Those are STEM skills, but they're also career-ready skills.

Learning to program a drone isn't only about controlling where it flies. Sensors allow drones to gather information about the world around them, and code can turn that information into something useful. When students apply those tools to a real-world problem, they begin to see how the STEM concepts they're learning in the classroom connect to the work 

For more ways to bring CoDrone EDU into the classroom, explore the free curriculum at Robolink Learn and check out additional themed lessons on the blog.

And remember, share pictures and videos of your students measuring their trees  on social media for a chance to win a CoDrone EDU to add to your fleet. Be sure to tag @robolinkinc in your post to be entered to win!