The Institute For Personal
Robots In Education (IPRE)
Tucker Balch
Associate Professor
College of Computing at Georgia Tech
Stewart Tansley
Program Manager
Microsoft Research
Contents
Attraction and retention in CS
Microsoft’s motivation and role
A program for addressing the challenge
The Institute for Personal Robots in
Education
Background -- Context for CS & Threads
Program overview
The robots
Discussion
Computer Science In Decline
Computer Science Listed As Probable Major Among Incoming Freshman
Source: HERI at UCLA
Microsoft Program Vision
Partner with academia to bring measurable gains in
Computer Science enrollment & retention
through the deployment of compelling
robotics-based technologies
in CS1/CS2 curriculum
Institute Concept
Concerted, focused applied research effort
Leverage best contemporary technologies
and approaches
Target CS1/CS2 specifically
3-year program, $1M from Microsoft
Use this to establish a center of excellence
in robotics-based education
Mutually select a partner from a pre-qualified
invited list of potential hosts, using an
augmented form of MSR’s proven Request
For Proposals program
The Institute For Personal Robots In
Education (IPRE)
Hosted at the
College of Computing at Georgia Tech,
with Bryn Mawr College
The Institute
The Institute for Personal Robots
in Education
July 12 announcement
Hosted at Georgia Tech with
Bryn Mawr College
$1M over 3 years, $1M matching
funds
Goal:
To develop a proven, practical,
reliable, cost-effective robot
technology platform for teaching CS,
targeted at CS1/CS2
The Institute
Tucker Balch, Director
Doug Blank, Software
Mark Guzdial, Curricula
Deepak Kumar, Curricula
Background: Teaching CS At GT
As of 1999:
All GT students must take CS-1
Many take CS-1 and CS-2
3800 students per year
Problems:
28% WDF rate (50% for non-CS majors)
Solution: Context & Choice
Computational Media (Guzdial)
Engineering/Matlab (Smith)
Impact Of Context
WDF rate 16% for non-majors
1 year later: 20% of non-major
students report programming
outside class
Students who move to CS
major perform as well as
“regular” CS students
New: Threads CS Curriculum
Computing
Computing
Computing
Computing
Computing
Computing
Computing
Computing
& Computational Modeling
& Embodiment
& Foundations
& Information Internetworks
& Intelligence
& Media
& People
& Platforms
New:
New joint Computing and Engineering
research center
~30 faculty, +2 / year
Henrik Christensen, Director
Endowed chair: KUKA Robotics
Robotics PhD program 2007
Robots For CS Education
Our proposal is not to create a set of introductory
robotics courses . . .
but to create a set of introductory computer science
courses using robots that reveal the fundamental
concepts of computer science
Elements Of Our Plan
Novel robots for the student’s desktop
Curricula: Robotics context for CS1 and CS2
Pyro/Myro: educational robotics
software platform
Evaluation using proven
assessment instruments
Broad dissemination
Communicating the message
Element: Robots
Recall the PC.
Meet the PR.
Every student with
her own robot.
Design goals:
Inexpensive
Reliable
“Brainless”
Element: Curricula
“Use robots to reveal the
fundamental issues in
computer science”
This is a
research problem
We have roadmap
pioneered by
Mark Guzdial
Element: CS Teaching
Laboratories
Four diverse universities:
Georgia Institute of Technology;
Bryn Mawr College;
Georgia State University;
The University of Georgia
Element: Software
The Microsoft Robotics SDK.
Visual Studio
Pyro/Myro: the leading educational
robotics software platform
Element: Evaluation
Substantial experience with mediabased CS education
Test deployments at 4 universities
Proven assessment instruments
Element: Dissemination
Initial deployment at 4
partner universities
Two workshops for broader audience
Textbooks
The Robots
Challenges/Tradeoffs
High cost:
Insurmountable obstacle for
some schools
Come to the lab, check out
a robot….
Doesn’t scale
Compile, download and run:
Increases cost
Decreases understandability
Build the robot:
Requires support infrastructure
Reduces reliability
Intimidates some people
Our Approach
Low cost
Reliable:
Simple hardware;
Microsoft Robotics SDK.
Easy:
“Brainless;”
Leverages the Microsoft desktop
Two Robots
CS1 Robot
Bluetooth + PIC
2 x wheels & motors
1 x actuator
Sensors
Buttons, LEDs
Speaker
Assembly, packaging
$30-$20-$10-$15-$5-$5-$10--
Example Lesson
A program is a sequence of steps
to execute:
Forward(10)
Right(90)
Forward(10)
Right(90)
Forward(10)
Right(90)
Forward(10)
Right(90)
Example Lesson
Iteration:
For(I=1; I<=4; I++)
Forward(10)
Right(90)
CS2 Robot
Arm and camera
Any Questions?
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