Abstract
This paper considers 'Introduction to Engineering Design-Mobile Robotics,' a first year course in the undergraduate engineering programme at Trinity College. A highlight of the course is a team-based semester-long project in which students design and build fire-fighting robots and participate in the international robot competition. Course contents, hands-on learning experiences, and assessment methods are described. Course assessment and evaluation showed that it exposed first-year students to practical and philosophical dimensions of engineering design, successfully addressed many basic ABET outcomes, and elicited a positive student reaction.
Keywords design course; fire-fighting contest; mobile robotics; outcomes assessment; team projects
A robot is a system that can be programmed to perform a range of mechanical functions and that responds to sensory input under automatic control. It constitutes a mechatronic engineering product, the synergetic combination of mechanical, electrical, computer, and information technologies.1 As a specific category of mechatronic product, robots can perform functions normally ascribed to humans or animals, to imitate them and interact with them, or to act autonomously in various physical environments. In addition to the engineering disciplines, robotics deals with physiology, behaviour science, and various other subjects in science and the humanities. Robotic systems can relate to most processes in nature, human practices, and interactions with the environment. Their potential as educational tools for teaching and learning various subjects in technology, science, and humanities is unlimited.
The reasons making robotics especially effective at the introductory level of engineering education are as follows:
1 From the beginning of their studies students acquire a holistic 'mechatronic' view of electrical, mechanical and computer engineering, and shape personal inclinations in these professional areas.
2 Students acquire basic knowledge and experience that is important for their success in more advanced engineering courses.
3 From their first year of studies students become involved in self-directed learning, interdisciplinary design, teamwork, professional communication, technical invention, and research.
4 Students learn to investigate physical environments and human factors that determine engineering designs.
5 Intensive practice in solving diverse mental and physical tasks in the robotics medium can promote development of student intelligence and creativity.
A rapidly growing literature on robotics as an instructional medium in university and secondary school education has focused on describing initiatives, courses, and instructional tools. However, limited progress has been made in conceptualizing learning and instruction processes that underlie successful introductory robotics courses. Important open questions relate to prerequisite knowledge, integration of disciplines, learning by design, teamwork, robotic competitions, assessment, and evaluation. Finding answers to these questions requires educational research, which will help improve teaching and offer the means to evaluate and disseminate robotics programs. To achieve these goals, the educational research should be closely connected with practice and fit the criteria of fruitfulness, generality, testability, and coherence.2
In this paper the authors consider their experiences in teaching robotics as an introductory engineering subject with focus on analysis of learning processes and outcomes.
Educational background
Educational robotics relies on core concepts of modern engineering education. Seymour Papert and his adherents developed the concept of constructionism to characterise learning processes in which a learner is involved in the creation of external and sharable artefacts.3 The learner uses artefacts as Objects to think with' in order to explore, embody, and share ideas related to the topic of enquiry. Studies showed that this approach could be effectively used to educate students of all ages and experience levels and to stimulate their intellectual maturity.4 The constructionist approach was applied to teaching robotics first in the MIT undergraduate course 6.270 'LEGO Robot Design Competition Project'.5 In the course a robot was introduced as 'the object to think with' and the project-based curriculum focused on designing, building and operating autonomous robots.
The concept of principal educational outcomes is the other important premise for development of introductory robotics courses. In its EC2000 criteria, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) formulated a list of basic educational outcomes for all modern engineers with focus on systems approaches, cross-disciplinary linkages, and project-oriented learning.6 EC2000 required that all engineering programmes develop such core skills as 'an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs', and 'a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning'. Engineering programmes are evaluated by measuring their results in achieving the stated educational outcomes.
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