In recent years I have been teaching a project-based Robotics course within our quarterbased Mechanical Engineering program using the Stamp microcontroller. Students work in teams to complete a number of weekly lab exercises designed to sufficiently build their robotics expertise to the level that they can complete a project to design, build, and test an autonomous mobile robot to successfully complete an assigned task of their choosing. The course was structured in such a way that course materials laid out everything explicitly for the students since time was short on a ten-week quarter schedule. They simply followed the directions given. This fall, we changed to a semester schedule, changed our microcontroller from the Stamp to the popular Arduino, and restructured the entire course. Since extensive information is available on-line and in the literature for the Arduino, the course philosophy and structure has changed. Instead of providing students with all the information they need, students are now presented with a task, and they are told to go discover how to do it. As a result, the course is more challenging and interesting for them. This is aided by the additional time available in the semester schedule and by the wealth of information available for the Arduino. The paper discusses the current structure of the course, how independent team effort is evaluated, and the problems encountered in switching from a Stamp-based ten week quarter course to an Arduino-based "self-discovery" semester course.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.