Robots Coming to Intro Computer Science Classes

BlueCup writes "Two colleges are hoping to make computer science courses more attractive by including personal robots with the textbooks. Looking to boost enrollment in introductory computer science classes, Microsoft Corp. is working with Bryn Mawr College and Georgia Tech on developing new ways to bring robotics technology into the classroom. Douglas Blank, a computer science professor at Bryn Mawr, said the goal will be to start incorporating the robots in introductory courses at the suburban Philadelphia college next spring. Georgia Tech hopes to start during that term as well. The idea behind the program, Blank said, is to make computer science more hands-on and practical, rather than simply about debugging programs." Update: 07/13 15:52 GMT by T :Professor Blank wrote in with some clarification on one of his statements — read on below.

dougblank writes

"Note to self: when talking to the press, don't use complicated technical jargon, like 'debugging' :) I think what I actually said was 'rather than debug a program to make it give the right answer, the students must debug the program to make the robot behave the way they want it to.'

I think many of you will actually like the hardware, software, and curriculum that we are designing. Check out roboteducation.org/ and pyrorobotics.org. The new version of the software will be based on Pyro, Python Robotics. We think of the hardware as something like an iPod on wheels. The software is also being developed with an open source license. This project is not what many of you guess it might be.

The CS1 and CS2 that we are developing won't be watered down, but also won't be just the standard 'intro to programming, using robots.' It's a complete rethinking of the intro courses."

The Japanese are doing the same

... with sex ed classes.

Great

As if books aren't already expensive enough. I wonder how much a used robot/textbook will cost, as well.

Re:Great

Well it is BillGatesbot, so the cost is $50 Billion.

Why you ask, that was what it costed in 1990 and MS does not sell any for less than they sold it before.

Re:Great

The Sony AIBO (before it was discontinued) cost $2,000. However, schools are allowed to buy them for educational purposes at a discounted price of ~$1,700. This is a robust platform, and not everyone needs one. As far as personal robots goe, the B.O.E. Educational robots go for $100 ~ $500 depending on quality. The lower end is a little more pricey than your average new textbook.

Re:Great

Unfortunately I haven't made an account so don't dismiss me for being an AC. I have actually been working with a small college called Canisius in Buffalo and we have already introduced robotics into our lower level classes. Believe it or not, it does hel

Lego Mindstorms

My undergraduate cs department purchases some Lego Mindstorms [lego.com] off eBay and used them in the intro courses. They don't cost much (couple hundred max), so our tuition didn't go up anything. You got to write programs for them in Java. It was very exciting and sparked lots of interest (everybody wanted to take the class). Although it's not as cool as each student getting an individual robot, it is as close as some of the smaller campuses can get, and it's a great idea!

Re:Great

Just sounds like a gimmic to me.

I flirted with Comp Sci a long time before I actually got physical, and took a lot of classes at a lot of different places. I had classes that were too heavy on theory, I had classes that were too heavy on "practical" skills

Why?

Robots Coming to Intro Computer Science Classes

As teachers or students?

Re:Why?

Robots Coming to Intro Computer Science Classes

As teachers or students?

You mean there's a difference between robots and the people in the CS dept?

Da Cheatbot

If only I would've had this lesson before deciding on a career in technology [homestarrunner.com]

Nothing all that new

At Northeastern University I took a course similar to the one in the article except it was related to a program called CenSSIS. It was pretty interesting because it combined ultrasonic technology and programming to work on different projects. The most im

A bit deceptive, isn't it?

...to make computer science more hands-on and practical, rather than simply about debugging programs.

Kinda like discussing Bronte during Maths to make it "less about numbers", isn't it?

Re:A bit deceptive, isn't it?

No, it's kinda like discussing economics or physics during calculus to make it more practical and show people the real-world applications. Robots are an application of computer science; Bronte is not an application of math, but physics and economics are.

It's a matter of giving people more practical work, which is both more interesting and easier to learn for some people. I usually find that I learn a language better when I can play with it, and doubly so if I can write something real with it. Having a real piece of hardware that responds to your program is more exciting than just printing messages on a console.

It's a Trap!

It case anyone hadn't noticed, computer science has very little to do with computers, and nothing whatsoever to do with hardware. I can just imagine the course instructors cackling as the naive students skip inside expecting arrays of sophisticated robots waiting to be programmed:

"Fools!! Did you really think it would be that interesting? You're mathematicians now!! Now get back to computing runtime complexities for applications you will never have call to write, or understand! *Wwwuu-ttisshh* Bwahahahhahahaaa !!"

Re:It's a Trap!

This is why computer science professors get all the chicks, "Then I made them prove why one travelling salesman problem was not NP complete, Baby..."

I have the perfect robot for a computer science class. It doesn't do anything, it's just a plastic toy.

We built and programmed football-playing robots

...where I study in Stockholm, Sweden. Loads of fun!

Coming?

This is hardly cutting edge;
Case Western Reserver University started a program like this 5 years ago [cwru.edu] using Lego Mindstorms kits, and I'm sure they weren't the first. This is seperate from the higher-level Autonomous Robotics (aka Lego Lab) [cwru.edu] course that's been going on since 1995 [cwru.edu] and is based largely on MIT's 6.270 Autonomous Robot course [mit.edu] that created the Handy Board [wikipedia.org].

Keep it low level.

With only a CS1 and CS2 under my belt, and having programmed in only Java and VBA, I did a project in school that had me programming a self-navigating robot in C. We had a small processor* with a C compiler and a debugger. I soon augmented the debugger wit

Then it's not computer science

See the problem is, robotics is not computer science... it's electrical and computer engineering. Just because you want to bring more people to the dicipline doesn't meen you redefine what the dicipline is

Re:Then it's not computer science

Anyone who thinks that Robotics is not Computer Science has never actually worked with a robot. Robots encompass Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science.

MechE provides the muscles, the bones, the skin, and the structure of the robot.

CompE provides the nervous system, the veins and arteries, the heart, and the hormones.

CompSci provides the brain.

Take any one of these disciplines away and the robot fails.

The idea...

The idea behind the program, Blank said, is to make computer science more hands-on and practical, rather than simply about debugging programs.

Or maybe the idea is to make sure that the students have to use windows in order to use the robots. MS wants its OS to be used more for embedded and controller applications and have to do something to stop the students from using those small, open, inexpensive Linux systems.

Or am I wrong? Could the students use the robots and textbooks without MS tech?

All The Cool Kids Are Doing It

At Lehigh University where I just finished up my B.S. in Computer Engineering I was able to take part in the creation and infusion of a robotics curriculum into our CompSci department. The response was incredibly positive. When we opened up our course catalogues one semester to find that "Real-Time Vision Processing for Autonomous Robots" would be a course offered along with "Mobile Robotics" and "Robocup" we were ecstatic. Artificial Intelligence has always been a big seller in CompSci departments but it has been theoretical. Imagine taking an entry level course on C++ and not being able to write code on a computer. Theory without application has its limits. Robotics brings practical, observable results to the realm of A.I. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the Engineering School invites prospective students to tour the labs. Part of their tour is the CompSci robotics lab. They are privy to demonstrations of work being done with the Sony AIBO and several other robots that were all made in the labs. Needless to say that the biggest thrill for almost all the prospective students (and especially their parents) are the robots. They are simply enthralled by the thought that at our university we have computers that can (to an extent) think for themselves. Computer Science as a college discipline has come to a point where departments that don't incorporate robotics soon will find their enrollment dwindling!

Re:All The Cool Kids Are Doing It

Eh, AI can be applied relatively easily with a little bit of work. When I studied AI, my lecturer created a 2D virtual environment, and we had to write agents in LISP which could explore, gather food (for utiles), stave off predators and do it faster than

Lack of Interest

The problem with Computer Science right now is it's not the "hot" field. Most kids going to college are going to college so they can get out and earn a better living then if they didn't go to school...

The job market for computer science folks is flat right now with respect to new grads... If you don't have 5 years or more experience you are likely to have a difficult time finding a jump off point in the business.

Honestly I can say I don't help much... It's hard for me to hire grads out of college. They tend to be relatively worthless. They have 0 business experience and can't function without constant supervision. It's easier for me to just go out and hire someone with more experience... Until the job market heats up again and IT people are in demand I think most companies will continue to snipe the best people rather then someone new.

Re:CS isn't all about debugging programs

Yep. I'm really the last of the "real" CS students from LSU. Midway through my time in college, they started changing the classes over. Its more software development than anything else. Except starting out with .NET is not great in my opinion

They got rid of all the architecture classes, especially the good one where you learn about *how* memory works, threading, processor scheduling, all that stuff. They also got rid of the OS class. I mean, they still have an OS class, but its now a touchy-feely class where you don't actually *learn* anything. I feel bad for the kids who are going through right behind me...

We used to have a mandatory class on assembly too. Granted, its somewhat useless as a programming language in real life, but it still helps teach alot about what's going on at the low, low level.