Teaching computer science with robotics using Ada/Mindstorms 2.0

Fagin, Barry; Merkle, Laurence D.; Eggers, Thomas W.

doi:10.1145/507591.507592

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Fagin [8] and Schumacher [9] (2001) were among the first to introduce LEGO Mindstorms® in basic programming courses. Fagin used Ada language to teach basic control sentences (sequential, iteration or selection) and Schumacher used Java to teach fundamental computer programming concepts and introduce the concepts of autonomous vehicles, embedded computer systems and simulation.…”

Section: B Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of learning experiences using LEGO Mindstorms® in engineering courses

Fernandez‐Panadero

Román

Kloos

2010

IEEE EDUCON 2010 Conference

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It is well known by the educational community that active learning has a greater impact on the effectiveness of the learning process than other methods. It has long been recognized that the most effective learning techniques involve direct, purposeful learning experiences, such as hands-on or field experiences. In particular, computer-controlled models have been a useful aid in teaching programming, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics concepts. This paper describes our experience using LEGO Mindstorms® in three different scenarios: an elementary course on Programming, an advanced-level course on Artificial Intelligence and a third first-level course on Robotics. Our focus in those experiments is not on whether using LEGO kits is better than other methods to learn a programming language, AI algorithms or Robotics, but rather on introducing how this mixture of collaboration, competition and peer learning in a laboratory environment helps the students to increase their motivation and improve their professional skills such as problem solving, team work and leadership.

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Section: B Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of learning experiences using LEGO Mindstorms® in engineering courses

Fernandez‐Panadero

Román

Kloos

2010

IEEE EDUCON 2010 Conference

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“…For complex programs, a visual programming software is included in the package. Lego's Mindstorm kit was adopted by Department of Computer Science of US Air Force Academy [7] Electric Ray robot developed by Protocentral Inc, as shown in Figure 1, is an Arduino compatible [10] robot. It is an entry-level, low-cost complete robotic platform.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An open source graphical robot programming environment in introductory programming curriculum for undergraduates

Rahul

Whitchurch²,

Rao

2014

2014 IEEE International Conference on MOOC, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE)

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A graphical programming tool is developed in a view to help beginners realize the importance of coding in the form of physical robotic movement. Introducing a programming language to students with no background is often felt to be challenging in terms of syntax and control flow of a language. The paper discusses an open source graphical programming tool built on Minibloq platform that allows students to focus more on creative part of programming. The paper proposes a graphical approach to programming where a student need not remember any constructs of a programming language, but relies on the approach to solve a problem. The programming utility is developed for an open source Arduino platform. Currently the tool is developed to control a real robot built around Arduino platform. Thus a platform to learn fundamentals of programming as well as robotics is made available to students. The graphical programming tool with the robotic hardware was found to be easy to learn by high school students during an outreach program conducted by the authors. The framework is also extendable beyond programming and can be further developed to understand robotics.

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“…For example, robots were used in a non-major introductory programming course for Educational Technology students 2 . In the computer science departments, robots are used to teach fundamental concepts in programming 3,4,5,6 . Lopez has introduced a way to teach algorithms through algorithm concretization.…”

Section: Using Robots In the Introductory Computer Science Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

An International Study Of Robotics Courses In The Computer Science/Engineering Curriculum

Minaie¹,

Sanati-Mehrizy²

2006 Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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Robots are great motivation tools for teaching different concepts in engineering as well as computer science. Many courses involve simple robot construction and its programming. Theses robots usually contain a microcontroller, a few sensors, motors, and a body. These courses are excellent vehicles for teaching engineering concepts and they tend to be dominated by hardware concepts. This paper will discuss whether such a course is adequate for computer engineering area of specialization in a computer science department.In our computer science department, there are four areas of specialization. These four areas of specializations are computer science, software engineering, networking, and computer engineering. In this curriculum, the students matriculate into the CNS department after successfully completing the requirements of 30 hours of core courses common to all computer science students. The students continue taking core courses until the first semester of their junior year, when they begin choosing their electives from different specialization areas. This paper will address the question of what type of robotics course is adequate for computer engineering area of specialization in a computer science department by doing a national and an international survey of computer science and computer engineering curriculums. The intention is to see if robotics courses are offered and what the contents of those courses are. Also see if there are differences in the course content of a computer science robotics course versus a computer engineering robotics course.

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Teaching computer science with robotics using Ada/Mindstorms 2.0

Cited by 3 publications

References 5 publications

Impact of learning experiences using LEGO Mindstorms® in engineering courses

Impact of learning experiences using LEGO Mindstorms® in engineering courses

An open source graphical robot programming environment in introductory programming curriculum for undergraduates

An International Study Of Robotics Courses In The Computer Science/Engineering Curriculum

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