Robotics Merit Badge
Seven requirements, and the thing that matters most has no requirement number: the robot engineering notebook. Five separate steps write into it and 5(b) hands it to your counselor, so it cannot be written up afterwards. Requirement 4(a) also needs your counselor's approval before anything is built, and the constraints that design has to satisfy, including at least two degrees of freedom, are printed one line later in 4(b) rather than with the choice they govern.
The plan behind this
The robot engineering notebook
It has no requirement number of its own, and six requirements refer to it:
| step | what goes in it |
|---|---|
| 4(a) | the task you chose, and your counselor's approval of it |
| 4(b) | the design, as drawings and a written description |
| 4(d)(1) | a sample of your program's source code |
| 4(d)(2) | the flowchart, if you took that option instead |
| 4(e) | the test results, suggestions for improvement, and pictures or sketches of the finished robot |
| 5(b) | nothing. This is where you hand it over and talk it through |
Start it at 4(a), not at 5(b). Five of those entries are records of decisions and events, and decisions cannot be recalled accurately weeks later. 4(e) is the one that catches people out: it wants pictures or sketches of the finished robot, which means photographing it while it still exists in that state.
Requirement 4(a) is an approval, and it comes first
With your counselor's approval, choose a task for the robot or robotic subsystem that you plan to build.
The approval is on the task, before the build. Two things follow from that:
- Raise it at a meeting, not by message on the day. The counselor has to understand the task well enough to approve it.
- A robot built first cannot have this granted afterwards. The requirement is about choosing, and choosing happens before building.
The two degrees of freedom are in 4(b), not 4(a)
Read these two in the order they are printed and the trap is obvious:
| what it asks | |
|---|---|
| 4(a) | choose a task. Include sensor feedback and programming in the task. |
| 4(b) | design your robot. It must use sensors and programming and have at least 2 degrees of freedom. |
Degrees of freedom are named only in 4(b). A degree of freedom is an independent way the robot can move: one motor driving one axis is one, an arm that rotates and also extends is two. A task such as "detect a line and stop" can be satisfied by a machine with a single axis, which meets 4(a) completely and cannot be designed into anything that meets 4(b).
Read 4(b) before you agree the task in 4(a). That is the whole of the advice, and it costs nothing.
Requirement 4(d): working code, or a flowchart
| option | what it is |
|---|---|
| 4(d)(1) | program the robot to actually perform the task, and put a sample of the source code in the notebook |
| 4(d)(2) | prepare a flowchart of the steps needed to program it, including procedures driven by sensor inputs |
These are not the same size of job. 4(d)(1) is writing and debugging code until a physical machine does the thing. 4(d)(2) is a diagram, and the diagram still has to show activities based on sensor inputs, so it is not a way of avoiding the sensors.
Note what 4(d)(2) does not say: it never asks for the robot to run the program. The discussion of programming options with your counselor happens in the 4(d) stem either way.
Requirement 6: attend one, or read about three
| option | what it is | when you can do it |
|---|---|---|
| 6(a) | attend a robotics competition and report on what you saw | only when one is running near you |
| 6(b) | learn about three youth robotics competitions and describe them | any evening |
6(a) is the only step on this badge that a calendar can block outright. Youth robotics competitions run in seasons, mostly autumn through spring, and a region may hold very few events. If you want 6(a), find the dates early and plan the rest of the badge around them. If you cannot, 6(b) is a complete alternative and asks for four specific things about each competition: the type, the time commitment, the age of participants, and how many teams are involved.
Requirement 7 has changed since the printed book
| source | requirement 7 |
|---|---|
| 2025 Boy Scout Requirements (33216) | Careers. Name three career opportunities in robotics. Pick one, find out the education, training and experience required, discuss it |
| the current page | Do ONE of the following: a fuller careers route, or a hobby route |
The hobby route is new, and it is a real alternative rather than a lighter one: it asks about additional training, expenses, affiliation with organizations, and both short-term and long-term goals. The page is the later source and is what governs.
What this page is
The Robotics merit badge, drawn so that the approval, the notebook and the design constraints are visible before the build rather than after it. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year.
Sources for this page
- Robotics Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2026-01-07 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .