Robotics for Instruction
(Abbreviated for Faculty Summit 2005)
Stewart Tansley, Ph.D.
External Research & Programs
Microsoft Research
stansley@microsoft.com
http://research.microsoft.com/~stansley
Computer Science in Decline
Computer Science Listed As Probable Major Among Incoming Freshman
Source: HERI at UCLA
Why Robotics for Teaching CS?
Computer Science
CS in crisis: attraction, retention, diversity, quality
CS in transition, evolving – but not a consensus view
CS1/CS2 greatest need (and MS priority)
But clear applications in advanced CS and EE/ME/CE engineering
Computation trends
More applications that deal with the physical world
Inherently applied & pervasive today
Devices & general purpose computers working together
Robotics offers:
Cool, engaging in deep ways, wide(r) appeal
Physical embodiment of abstract concepts, can help learning
Team-based learning, lab-based
Gender, Diversity – less elitist (TBC)
Deeper learning, richer learning (TBC)
Some existence proofs – but not scientifically proven
Overview (of the full talk that’s online)
The scope of educational robotics
Educational robotics today
Challenges in educational robotics
The opportunity of 32-bit
The promise of robotics to enhance
computer science
Examples – of delivery on that promise
Educational robotics tomorrow
Call to action
Educational Robotics Today
Australia's Telerobot on the Web.
Australian National University Robotic Systems Lab
Beckman Institute Robotics and Computer Vision Laboratory
Bilkent University (Turkey) Robotics and Sensing Laboratory
Boston University's Robotics and Control page.
Bradford University Engineering in Astronomy
Brandeis University Interaction Lab Page.
Brown University's AI Page
Bucknell University Robotics Internet Resources Compendium
California Polytechnic IEEE Computer Society Robotics Contest
California Polytechnic State University Robotics Laboratory
Caltech's Robotics Group.
Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute
Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Sensor Based Planning Laboratory
Case Western Reserve University Autonomous Agents Research Group
Columbia University Robotics Lab.
Cornell University Robotics and Vision Laboratory.
Delft University of Technology Control Laboratory.
Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt Institute of Robotics and System Dynamics
Edinburgh University Dept of AI Mobile Robots Group.
Florida International University Robotics and Automation Laboratory
Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH) - Hellas (Greece) Computer Vision and Robotics
Laboratory
Free University of Brussels AI Lab
Georgia Tech Mobile Robot Laboratory page.
Harvard University Robotics Lab page.
Helsinki University of Technology Automation Technology Laboratory
INRIA's Robotics, Image and Vision program.
IRF - Institute for Robotics Research (Germany) Home Page
Indiana University Robotics Page
Instituto de Autom%E1tica Industrial Artificial Perception Group
Iowa State University Project Cybot
Iowa State University Artificial Intelligence Research Group
Japan's Robotics Research Map
Johns Hopkins University Robotics Lab
Lancaster University Mechatronic Engineering Research Group
Laval University Computer Vision and Systems Lab
Laval University Robotics Laboratory
Linköping Institute of Technology Robotics / Autonomous Mechanical Systems.
Lund University Cognitive Science Orienting Robot
Malaga University (Spain) Robotics
Mark Dalton's Robotics, Learning, Chaos, Complexity, Systems theory
McGill University's Center for Intelligent Machines.
Middlesex University Advanced Manufacturing and Mechatronics Centre
Mihailo Pupin Institute (Yugoslavia) Robotics Laboratory
MIT Humanoid Robotics Group Field & Space Robots 6.270 6.186
Monash University Intelligent Robotics Research Center
Morgan State University Industrial Automation and Robotics
New Mexico Tech Robotics Club
New University of Lisbon CRI - Center for Intelligent Robotics
Northeastern University MSEL Home Page
Notre Dame University Vision-Based Robotics Using Estimation page.
Oxford University Robotics Research Group
POSTECH and RIST Robotics Lab
Portugal's Instituto de Sistemas e Robótica Home Page
Purdue University Robot Vision Lab
Queen's University Robotics and Perception Lab
Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm): CVAP SANS
Ruhr-Universität Bochum Institut für Neuroinformatik6
Simon Fraser University Intelligent Robotics and Manufacturing Systems (IRMS) Laboratory
Stanford University: Dextrous Manipulation Lab Robotics Lab
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zurich) Institute of Robotics
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Mobile Robot Khepera and Simulator
Technical University of Vienna Institute of Flexible Automation
The Unmanned Ground Vehicles Robotics Competition
Trinity College and Connecticut Robotics Society Firefighting Robot Contest
Universit Libre de Bruxelles Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Department
Universitá di Genova LIRA-Lab: Laboratory for Integrated Advanced Robotics
University College London AI, Cognitive Science and Robotics Page
University of Alberta: Robotics and Control Systems Group Computer Vision and Robotics Research
Group
University of Amsterdam Robotics and Neurocomputing .
University of British Columbia Laboratory for Computational Intelligence
University of California Berkeley: Robotics and Intelligent Machines Lab Home Page Human
Engineering Laboratory
University of Delaware Floating Robots (Mechanical Systems Lab)
University of Dortmund IRF - Institute of Robotics Research
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Institute for Manufacturing Automation and Production Systems
(FAPS).
University of Florida Machine Intelligence Laboratory
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign COE Robotics and Automation Laboratory.
University of Kaiserslautern Autonomous Mobile Robots Research Group
University of Luleå Department of Robotics & Automation.
University of Manchester Robotics lab
University of Maribor Laboratory for Robotics
University of Maryland: Autonomous Mobile Robot Lab Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory Space
Systems Laboratory
University of Massachusetts Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics
University of Michigan The MEAM Mobile Robotics Lab
University of New Hampshire Robotics Laboratory
University of Pennsylvania GRASP Lab.
University of Reading Department of Cybernetics
University of Rochester Robotics Lab
University of Rome "La Sapienza" Robotics Lab
University of Sheffield Robotics and Industrial Automation
University of Southern California Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems
University of Stuttgart: COMROS (large systems, simulation)
University of Surrey The Mechatronic Systems and Robotics Research Group Home Page
University of Sussex COGS page.
University of Sydney Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
University of Texas Intelligent Robotics Research
University of Texas at Arlington Automation and Robotics Research Institute (ARRI)
University of Texas at Austin Robotics Research Group
University of Toronto Virtual and Augmented Reality Home Page
University of Utah Robotics and Computer Vision
University of Virginia Clinical Robotics and Automation Group
University of Washington Biorobotics Laboratory
University of Western Australia Robotics and Vision Group
University of Wisconsin Robotics Lab Home Page
University of Zaragoza, Spain Robotics Group
University of Zurich Robotics Related Services on the Internet
University of the West of England Bristol Intelligent Autonomous Systems Engineering Laboratory
Utah State University The Center for Intelligent Systems
Vanderbilt University Intelligent Robotics Laboratory
Vincennes University Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Yale Vision and Robotics group.
Ref: http://www-robotics.cs.umass.edu/cgi-bin/robotics-university/
Challenges In
Educational Robotics
Price
Performance Durability
Flexibility
Ease
of use
Additional Challenges
Other adoption impedances
Opportunity/need is not primarily in existing
practitioners
You want me to change my curriculum?
Professor perceptions & needs
Student perceptions & needs
Grand debates
Theory vs. application
Robotics vs. CS
Support from manufacturers
Longevity, warranty, availability, cost
© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.
Invited Speakers
Prof. James Hamblen, Georgia Tech
Prof. Illah Nourbakhsh, CMU
Prof. CJ Taylor, UPenn
Additional Slides
The following slides will not be used in
the presentation, but are included for
the reader’s reference afterwards
The Opportunity Of 32-bit
Price
Performance
Full OS
Mass storage
More powerful software
Durability
Flexibility
Multiple OS’s to choose from, multiple applications,
multiple peripherals
Ease of use
Examples of Robotics Innovation
in Academia
Brown – USA
UPenn – USA
Cornell (4) – USA
Georgia Tech – USA
Potsdam – Germany
Humbolt – Germany
Rome – Italy
Pisa – Italy
UVA – USA
USF – USA
Pontificia Universidad
Catholica de Chile
UTN – Argentina
ITESM – Mexico
Note: in no particular order
Brown
UPenn
Cornell (1)
Cornell (2)
Cornell (3)
Georgia Tech
Humbolt
Potsdam
Rome
http://www.robotics4.net/
Pisa
‘R2D2’
Pisa
http://rotor.di.unipi.it/
Advanced Software Engineering with
Robotics
Advanced Software
Engineering with Robotics
This course, CS340, is designed to
attract, retain, and inspire future
software engineering professionals.
Focus is around major topics and not
product. This nine laboratory course
has students participating in team
environments and preparing
presentations. Topics include Project
Management, Requirement Capture,
Semi-formal Specifications, ObjectOriented Design, Reusability,
Programming Practices, Inspections
and Formal Specifications.
John Knight,PhD
University of Virginia
Department of
Computer Science
Education Outreach: The Visible Robot
PI: R. Murphy, University of South Florida
Grad Student: R. Skibinski
For each exercise, there are 4 “scaffolded” levels
reflecting level of difficulty and time required
Level 1 Inspection: Review and execute existing code.
•little or no computer science experience or only a short time
•inspect existing, well-written code, then execute it, learning how the
implementation follows the algorithm description.
Level 2 Interaction: Review, execute, change parameters, execute.
•some computer science experience, possibly sophomore/freshman.
•trace the impact of parameters or some other aspect of the code
execution through the code
•Example: change the stand-off parameters for the wall-following behavior
through a GUI, estimate the impact given their understanding of the code,
and then observe the actual impact on performance.
Funded by Microsoft, Evolution Robotics, USF CSE
Department
Objectives:
Create a programming lab supplement to Introduction to AI
Robotics using low cost ER1s to go in Microsoft Curriculum
repository
See “inside” robot code at appropriate level, time available for the
class
Level 3 Implementation: Correct errors in implementation or logic.
•upper level undergraduates or graduate students, but short time
•reinforces how to translate theory into code and in particular how to debug
code.
•Example: code with a few deliberate syntax and 1 logic error
Level 4 Creation: Use the existing object to create new object
•first year graduate students
•more time-effective to take good existing code and modify it.
•example: extend the existing wall-following behavior into a hall-following
behavior.
Introduce computing, good practices in a hands-on format
Use homeland security related themes for exercises
Special thanks to: T. Abraham, R, Agarwal, I. Akyoli, C. Bethel, J. Craighead, R.
Dominquez, D. Ernst, Z. Miernik, R. Paulk, A. Puri, A. Riggs, T. Rupe, E. Veras-Jorge, C.
Williams
Mobile Robotics and
Programming
Mobile Robotics and
Programming Courses
This project will capitalize on the work
of Professor John Knight, University of
Virginia, to develop and extend the
Mobile Robotics course coupling it with
embedded systems and a computer
architecture lab. The course will have
students learn low-level control,
locomotion, and kinematics. The
keystone experiences is the
implementation of a mapping and
localization algorithm within the maze
world.
Alvaro Soto, PhD
Pontificia Universidad
Catholica de Chile
Department of
Computer Science
College of Engineering
Building Robots
for MechEng
Cornell (4)
Building Robotics for ME –
Encouraging Consumption
by CS
The Cornell Mechatronics course are
exposing students to the functional
elements of automation: optical
encoders, h-bridge amplifiers, motor
responses, simple sensing systems for
robotic platforms. This project
integrates PC104 with Windows XP
Embedded into the mechatronics
curriculum. Students will use the
PC104 XPe driven system to write
software for higher level robotics
controllers.
Ephrahim Garcia, PhD
Cornell University
Laboratory for Intelligent
Machine Systems
Microsoft Research University Relations Funded Projects
Electronic and Mechanical Engineering
Techniques of Robotics
& Artificial Intelligence
Applied to a Personal
Robot
Undergraduate project course that
stresses in AI tools for robot
positioning and control. Course
developed with the Tablet PC Compaq
TC1100 platform and ER1 from
Evolution Robotics. Students utilizing
Visual Studio.net 2003.
Introductory and advanced courses.
Claudio Verrastro
Technologic National University of
Buenos Aires - Argentina
Department of Electronics and Science
and Technology Secretary
Computer Vision Aided Navigation of Mobile Robots –
for junior & senior students of engineering
This course covers the basics of
computer vision and trajectory
planning for mobile robots in a
two dimensions working
environment.
The course will use Microsoft tools
for programming, and ER1
robots kits from Evolution
Robotics.
This course will be part of a three
course robotics concentration
for students of electrical
engineering, mechanical
engineering and biomedical
engineering.
Assistant Professor
Computer Science
Department
ITESM, Monterrey, Mexico
e-mail pfeiffer@itesm.mx
Tablet PC Navigation
Call to action
Make robots more engaging while simpler to
use in the classroom
Leverage all the tools, products, platforms,
support available from the enormous PC
ecosystem
Make contributions that build a better
baseline for educational robotics
Seize the opportunity to accelerate the state
of the art in robotics
Together, perhaps help ignite a new industry
While inspiring the next generation of
computer scientists!
Additional Conclusions
(for Robotics Education Workshop)
PC technologies as an additional solution
Emerging platforms in this area
“ER1 successors”
Cheaper, more powerful SBCs (Single Board Computers)
Getting industry interested is important
Existing robotics companies, startups, non-traditionals
There has to be a business in it for them
Remember that the key opportunity is the teaching
community not already doing this!
Workshop Ref: http://projects.csail.mit.edu/rss/RobotEd/
Microsoft Research
External Research & Programs Contacts
Stewart Tansley, Ph.D.
(Embedded Systems, Robotics)
stansley@microsoft.com
http://research.microsoft.com/~stansley
John Nordlinger
(Computer Gaming)
johnnord@microsoft.com