Transcript Using Surveyor SRV-1 Robots to Motivate CS1 Students John Cummins Dept of Mathematics Brooklyn College, City University of New York [email protected] M.

Using Surveyor SRV-1
Robots to Motivate CS1
Students
John Cummins
Dept of Mathematics
Brooklyn College, City University of New York
[email protected]
M. Q. “Sumon” Azhar
Elizabeth Sklar
Dept of Computer and Information Science
Brooklyn College, City University of New York
{azhar, sklar}@sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu
Agents Lab
http://agents.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu
presenter: John Cummins and M. Q. Azhar
1
Why Surveyor robot?
•Hardware
•Motors
•Powerful visual
sensing.
•Battery Life
•Robust communication.
•Does not look like a toy.
•Looks like a cool robot
• Acts like a cool robot.
•Low maintenance!
•$435
•New one: Blackfin
•$465
•Laser pointer
•Faster processor
Motivating CS1 students using “Surveyor”
robot!
How do I develop
Educational Robotics
Software?
Developer
•Is it simple to program?
•Is it easy to learn?
•Is it designed to create
learnable moments.
•How can I enforce robust
communication?
How do I
integrate
robot materials
to
existing curriculum?
Educator
•Which (AI<->CS1) topic?
•When do I introduce?
•How many labs?
•How long is the lab?
•…
Making it work!
Robust Software
Simplicity of programming
Absolute integration
Robust Communication
Robust Hardware
Accessing Resources:
Hardware:
http://www.surveyor.com
Software & Labs:
http://agents.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/robotics.edu
CS1 (Robotics Application) Syllabus:
http://www.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~mqazhar/teaching/cis1.5
Demo!
questions/comments?
http://agents.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/robotics.edu