Robotics Merit Badge
Seven requirements drawn so the engineering notebook, the counselor's approval and the two degrees of freedom are visible before the build starts rather than after it.
8 steps (18 parts inside them). 6 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Robotics Merit Badge
No questions answered
This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the 3 questions at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.
Which of this applies to you
You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering 3 short questions will take out the parts that are not for you.
Your progress
20 steps can be started now; 5 are waiting on something else.
Clear ticksYour ticks are kept in this browser, so they will still be here next time. They are in the address as well, so a link to this page carries them to another device.
The steps
Stage 1 of 8
1 step
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1. Safety: hazards, gear, and first aid Requirement
Two parts, both discussions with your counselor. Nothing gates them, so they are available from the first day and are the obvious thing to do while a competition date or a parts order is pending.
Stage 2 of 8
1 step
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2. The robotics industry: three discussions Requirement
All three are discussions with your counselor. No building, no equipment and no other people involved, so this is the part of the badge that never waits on anything.
Stage 3 of 8
1 step,
all ticked
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3. Three of the five major fields of robotics Requirement
Human-robot interface, mobility, manipulation, programming and sensors. You choose three and discuss their importance to robotics development, either as they relate to one robot system or in general. Pictures or at least one video are required to support the discussion.
Stage 4 of 8
1 step
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4. Design, build, program and test a robot Often forgotten Requirement
Five steps, done in order, and the whole of the practical badge. The counselor approves the task before the build starts, and the engineering notebook is written into at four of the five steps.
7 parts
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4(a). Choose a task, with your counselor's approval Often forgotten TWO THINGS HAPPEN HERE AND BOTH ARE EASY TO GET WRONG. First, the counselor APPROVES THE TASK, and that approval comes before the build rather than after it. A robot built over a weekend and shown to a counselor afterwards has skipped this step, and there is no way to grant it retrospectively. Raise it at a meeting. Second, READ 4(b) BEFORE YOU AGREE THE TASK. The design that follows has to have at least two degrees of freedom, and 4(a) does not mention them. A task such as detect a line and stop satisfies 4(a) completely and can be built with a single moving axis, which then cannot meet 4(b) without coming back here and starting again.
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4(b). Design the robot: sensors, programming, two degrees of freedom Often forgotten AT LEAST 2 DEGREES OF FREEDOM, AND THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE THE BADGE SAYS SO. A degree of freedom is an independent way the machine can move: one motor driving one axis is one, an arm that both rotates and extends is two. The constraint applies to the design, but the thing that decides whether it can be met is the task you already agreed in 4(a). Also note that the documentation is drawings AND a written description, not one or the other.
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4(c). Build the robot or robotic subsystem Usually comes after 4(a). Choose a task, with your counselor's approval.
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4(d)(1). Program the robot to perform the task Optional May not apply Usually comes after 4(a). Choose a task, with your counselor's approval.
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4(d)(2). Prepare a flowchart of the programming steps Optional May not apply Usually comes after 4(a). Choose a task, with your counselor's approval.
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4(e). Test the robot, and record the results Often forgotten PHOTOGRAPH THE ROBOT WHILE IT IS STILL FINISHED. This step asks for the test results, suggestions for improving the robot, AND pictures or sketches of the finished robot, all in the engineering notebook. Robots get taken apart: for the next project, for parts, or because the club needs the kit back. By the time you reach requirement 5 there may be nothing left to photograph. Take the pictures on the day it works.
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Stage 5 of 8
1 step
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5. Demonstrate the robot and share the notebook Requirement
Two parts. The first is the machine, the second is the record of how it came to exist, and the second cannot be assembled at this point if it was not kept as you went.
2 parts
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5(a). Demonstrate the robot you built in requirement 4 Usually comes after 4. Design, build, program and test a robot.
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5(b). Share the engineering notebook, and talk it through Often forgotten THIS IS WHERE THE NOTEBOOK IS READ, AND IT IS FAR TOO LATE TO WRITE IT. Five earlier steps put things in it: the task and its approval in 4(a), the drawings and written description in 4(b), the source code sample or the flowchart in 4(d), and the test results, improvements and photographs in 4(e). Then you are asked how well the robot accomplished the task, what you would improve next time, and what you learned about the design process. Those answers come out of a record kept as you went. Reconstructed afterwards, the notebook is a summary rather than an engineering record.
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Stage 6 of 8
1 step
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6. Competitions: attend one, or learn about three Requirement
The only requirement on this badge that somebody else's calendar can block. One route needs an event running within reach; the other is desk research.
ONE OF THESE TWO DEPENDS ON A CALENDAR YOU DO NOT CONTROL. Attending a competition needs an event that is running, within reach, on a day you can get to, and youth robotics competitions run in fixed seasons with a good part of the year outside them. If you want 6(a), find the dates before you plan the rest of the badge. If you cannot get to one, 6(b) is a complete alternative and asks for four specific things about each of three competitions.
2 parts
Stage 7 of 8
1 step
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7. A career in robotics, or robotics in a hobby Requirement
One of two, and the hobby route is new: the 2025 printed requirements book has only the careers task. Both routes are considerably larger than the book's version.
2 parts
Stage 8 of 8
1 step
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Counselor signs it off Milestone
The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.
Usually comes after 7. A career in robotics, or robotics in a hobby.
Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.
This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.