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Finding the “Right” Robot Competition: Targeting Non-Engineering Undergraduates. Susan Eileen Fox Macalester College. Motivating questions. Why do we hold robot contests? How do we match our goals to the contest activities? How can we, as a community, share good ideas more effectively?.
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Finding the “Right” Robot Competition: Targeting Non-Engineering Undergraduates Susan Eileen Fox Macalester College Susan Fox, Macalester College, AAAI Spring Symposium 2007
Motivating questions • Why do we hold robot contests? • How do we match our goals to the contest activities? • How can we, as a community, share good ideas more effectively? Susan Fox, Macalester College, AAAI Spring Symposium 2007
Macalester “Robot Day” Susan Fox, Macalester College, AAAI Spring Symposium 2007
Goals for the Contest • Create a fun extracurricular activity • Raise the profile of AI and robotics • Work with students, encourage future research collaborators • Engage students with concepts from robotics and AI Susan Fox, Macalester College, AAAI Spring Symposium 2007
Outcomes • Create a fun extracurricular activity • Raise the profile of AI and robotics • Work with students, encourage future research collaborators (2006) • Engage students with concepts from robotics and AI Susan Fox, Macalester College, AAAI Spring Symposium 2007
What Are My Options? • “World-class” competitions: Robocup, AUVSI • Undergraduate engineering competitions: Jerry Sanders Creative Design, Micro Mouse • K-12 and Hobbyist competitions: Botball, ChiBot • A few great models: Bob Avanzato @ Penn State Abington, some presented here TONS of contests: how can we find models to fit our goals Susan Fox, Macalester College, AAAI Spring Symposium 2007
Robot Contest Repository A searchable repository of information about robot competitions/exhibitions • Goals of contest • Target audience • Possible tasks • How-to information Susan Fox, Macalester College, AAAI Spring Symposium 2007
Conclusions • Robot contests are fun, and can be valuable to students • Creating contests from scratch is a lot of work: best shared among a community • Acknowledge and support the wide range of goals and participants! Susan Fox, Macalester College, AAAI Spring Symposium 2007