Activity 4 - Test Drive Nuvo Through the Maze

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Nuvo is excited! 🐢
He finally has a maze to explore — but before we send him off to find Nuvi, let’s help him practice moving around safely.

In this activity, you’ll manually drive Nuvo through a few turns using simple Turtle commands.
It’s like remote-controlling your turtle friend with code! 🎮

Step 1: Import your modules and set the scene 🎨

Let’s reuse our maze and helper files from before so Nuvo can move around inside his maze.

import turtle
import turtlehelper as th
import maze

Then draw the maze and create Nuvo!

# Draw the maze walls
maze.draw_maze()

# Create Nuvo (our explorer)
nuvo = th.create_turtle_object("purple", 4, "turtle", 3)
th.set_cursor(nuvo, -20, 120)   # Start near the maze entrance

Step 1: Move Nuvo forward 🐾

Try moving Nuvo a little bit forward inside the maze.

nuvo.forward(50)

Every time you call forward(50), Nuvo moves 50 steps ahead. You can experiment with different numbers — smaller steps are safer when navigating tight spaces!

Step 2: Learn to turn left and right 🔄

To make Nuvo turn, use:

nuvo.left(90)   # turn left
nuvo.right(90)  # turn right

Each command turns Nuvo by the number of degrees you tell it — 90 degrees means a perfect corner turn.

Try this small test route:

nuvo.forward(50)
nuvo.left(90)
nuvo.forward(50)
nuvo.right(90)
nuvo.forward(50)

Does Nuvo move the way you expect? If not, adjust the angles — for example, use 45 or 120 to make diagonal or triangle turns.

Step 3: Combine movements into a simple path 🚶‍♂️

Let’s guide Nuvo around one part of the maze. You can write a mini route for him:

# A custom test drive for Nuvo
nuvo.forward(100)
nuvo.right(90)
nuvo.forward(80)
nuvo.left(90)
nuvo.forward(60)

Each step is like a driving instruction:

  1. “Go forward this far”
  2. “Turn this way”
  3. “Now keep moving”

Step 4: Hide or reset Nuvo if he gets stuck 🔁

If Nuvo bumps into a wall or goes off track — no problem! You can lift him up and start again.

th.set_cursor(nuvo, 10, -135)

🌟 Challenge for You

🧩 Try making your own mini adventure route!

  1. Can you make Nuvo trace a square inside the maze?
  2. What happens if you turn by 45 degrees instead of 90?
  3. Can you guide Nuvo from the bottom-left corner to the top-right?

Bravo, Turtle Driver! 🚗💨 You’ve just learned to control direction, distance, and turns — all the tools you need to navigate any maze.

In the next activity, we’ll teach Nuvo how to find Nuvi!!