The idea of Robo Challenge is to use the robot arm to grab the satellite (a blue circle) and carry it to the loading bay area of the ship without hitting any obstacles. The robot can be manipulated directly, it can also be programmed.

Each time you run the program the blue satellite is randomly positioned on the background but it is always within reach of the arm.

Choose Robo Challenge from the Start Menu. The program will start and you will be looking at the following screen.

The robot arm's starting position is docked within the space shuttle. To see the arm you need to raise it out of the shuttle in such a way that it does not rupture the bottom of the craft.

To raise the arm out of the shuttle move the shoulder through at least 90 degrees by using the Shoulder control, type 90 into the text box marked shoulder:

Then click on the Move button:

The upper arm will now move into an upright position:

To extend the forearm, give an angle such as 90 to the Elbow text box:

Then click on Move, the forearm will now move to a 90 degree angle with the upper arm:

The plus and minus buttons can be used to move one degree at a time. The wrist can be rotated towards the blue satellite. Put the angle 270 into the Wrist text box:

Then press Move. The wrist will now be at 270 degrees to the forearm:

Open the Hand by clicking on the Open option:

Now click Move again and the hand will open.

These are the basic movements. It is for you to experiment with how you can manipulate the controls to get the fingers of the hand directly around the satellite. When you have successfully positioned the hand to within grasping distance of the satellite you will see the 'Within reach' indicator turn to green:

The hand can now be closed to grip the satellite. At this point the target area, marked with a dotted line, will flash on and off and the Gripped indicator will turn green:

You can select 'Show target area' from the options menu to permanently mark this area. This is where the satellite should be carried to. Manipulate the arm until the satellite is in this area.

At this point you will see the 'In target area' indicator turn to green.

You can now release the satellite and carefully stow the arm.