Title :
Principles and experiences in using legos to teach behavioral robotics
Author :
Gage, Aaron ; Murphy, Robin R.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci. & Eng., Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
Abstract :
This paper describes the application of lego mindstorms and vision command kits as a cost- and time-effective means of reinforcing behavioral robotics principles to students of different disciplines with limited programming skills. As part of a course in robotics, senior undergraduate and first year graduate students in computer science, engineering, and psychology have worked in small groups building and programming robots to perform a variety of tasks, ultimately developing robots for a mock search and rescue operation. This paper discusses the pedagogical principles, the exercises, student reactions, shortcomings, and lessons learned. The laboratory exercises were used to teach students in two locations (Tampa, Florida and Reykjavik, Iceland) with positive student reviews. The laboratory manual is available to teachers by request, along with the instructor´s guide to Introduction to AI robotics. Based on our experiences, we recommend their use.
Keywords :
intelligent robots; mobile robots; robot programming; robot vision; AI robotics; artificial intelligence; behavioral robotics principles; building robots; cost-effective means; lego mindstorms; mock search; pedagogical principles; programming robots; programming skills; rescue operation; time-effective means; vision command kits; Application software; Artificial intelligence; Computer science; Computer vision; Costs; Educational robots; Laboratories; Psychology; Robot programming; Robot vision systems;
Conference_Titel :
Frontiers in Education, 2003. FIE 2003 33rd Annual
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7961-6
DOI :
10.1109/FIE.2003.1264769