1 / 15

Lego Mindstorms Robotics in a (Very) Small Liberal Arts College

Lego Mindstorms Robotics in a (Very) Small Liberal Arts College. Ellen Walker Computer Science Dept. Hiram College. Hiram College Environment. Residential, undergraduate liberal arts college Around 875 students, More than 50% women Popular majors are education, management and biology

floyd
Download Presentation

Lego Mindstorms Robotics in a (Very) Small Liberal Arts College

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Lego Mindstorms Robotics in a (Very) Small Liberal Arts College Ellen Walker Computer Science Dept. Hiram College

  2. Hiram College Environment • Residential, undergraduate liberal arts college • Around 875 students, More than 50% women • Popular majors are education, management and biology • 4 CS faculty, about 35 traditional majors

  3. Mindstorms Robots at Hiram • Alumni gift in 1999: 6 kits • First-year colloquium courses: 1999, 2003 • Artificial Intelligence student project: 2000 • Would like to use in other courses… … but see “Constraints” later

  4. First-year Colloquium (FRCL) • General education course, chosen by topic (independent of major) • Maximum 15 students per section • Writing across the curriculum (also critical reading, presentation) • Introduction to college life, liberal arts

  5. Colloquium Assignments • Oral presentation: “Robot Article” • Paper: “Fantasy Robot” • Paper: “Research Proposal” • Journal: “Mindstorms Lab Notebook” • Group oral presentation: “Our Robot” • 1999 - Recycling Challenge • 2003 - Robot Pet Show

  6. Mindstorms in the Colloquium • 9-12 class hours for robot labs • Lab exercises • Structural integrity (weak box / strong box) • Drive train, programming (draw a square) • Programming with sensors (follow the road) • Team Design & Programming Challenge

  7. 1999 Robot Recycling Competition

  8. 2003 Robot Pet Show

  9. Changes from 1999 to 2003 • Science fiction theme -> “Robot friend” • Competition format to exhibition format • Inspired by Turbak & Berg Robot Design Studio • Hoped to attract more women (but did not) • Merge teams after first 3 labs for final project • 2 kits for more creative projects • Earlier introduction of Mindstorms… • … but never enough time in lab!

  10. What’s Next? • Would like to use robots more! • AI, CS 1, New robot course… • Hope to stay current with hardware, software & curriculum • Very small liberal arts colleges must deal with many constraints…

  11. Constraints: Money • External donation bought first kits • No budget for maintenance • Upgrades • Replacement parts • Batteries (covered by Colloquium slush fund) • Cover with lab fees?

  12. Constraints: Time • Small college faculty must be “generalists” • Never enough time to “perfect” a course • 5-6 preparations per year • Most courses taught every 2-3 years • 9-12 preparations over a 3 year period • Major revisions needed every 2-3 times

  13. Constraints: Staffing • No graduate students (TA or RA) • Limited availability of undergraduate TA’s • All course alumni have graduated • Exception: first-year courses, including Colloquium • No departmental laboratory staff • HW / SW too specialized for college computer center staff

  14. Constraints: Space • No dedicated labs, just general purpose classrooms • Robots in locked closet when not in use • Students keep kits at “home” during project time • Lab use after hours requires faculty / TA supervision

  15. Questions?

More Related