Teaching Functional Patterns through Robotic Applications

Abstract

We present our approach to teaching functional programming to First Year Computer Science students at Middlesex University through projects in robotics. A holistic approach is taken to the curriculum, emphasising the connections between different subject areas. A key part of the students' learning is through practical projects that draw upon and integrate the taught material. To support these, we developed the Middlesex Robotic plaTfOrm (MIRTO), an open-source platform built using Raspberry Pi, Arduino, HUB-ee wheels and running Racket (a LISP dialect). In this paper we present the motivations for our choices and explain how a number of concepts of functional programming may be employed when programming robotic applications. We present some students' work with robotics projects: we consider the use of robotics projects to have been a success, both for their value in reinforcing students' understanding of programming concepts and for their value in motivating the students.Comment: In Proceedings TFPIE 2015/6, arXiv:1611.0865

Mirto

“…The program opens a stream on serial port COM3 (the client can also be run on Linux and Mac machines, changing the name of the serial port), then it writes a message on the LCD screen, then it sets the motors forward at 90% power and finally, after one second, it stops the motors. We refer to [5] for details on how Racket can be used in conjunction with MIRTO to teach functional patterns that have a physical manifestation.…”

“…This project by a group of first year students involved the use of the Twitter streaming API 5 . By connecting MIRTO to the internet, students were able to filter tweets containing the keyword MIRTOBOT.…”

A survey of the benefits and issues arising from the deployment of physical artefacts in computer science teaching

“…For example, the functional programming concept of higher order functions is used to map Arduino pin-setting functions across a number of pins and the concepts of functions as first class objects and side effects are demonstrated through lists of functions employed in causing the robot to explore an unknown area. Another example is the use of Racket Contracts to specify required robot behavior [16]. Through the use of Linux, students also gain familiarity with use of a command line interface, which most are unfamiliar with, having grown up using only graphical user interfaces.…”

The Use of Physical Artefacts in Undergraduate Computer Science Teaching

“…For example, the functional programming concept of higher order functions is used to map Arduino pin-setting functions across a number of pins and the concepts of functions as first class objects and side effects are demonstrated through lists of functions employed in causing the robot to explore an unknown area. Another example is the use of Racket Contracts to specify required robot behavior [10]. Through the use of Linux, students also gain familiarity with use of a command line interface, which most are unfamiliar with, having grown up using only graphical user interfaces.…”