Curriculum - Robotics Program

Course Introduction: Introduction to Robotics

Although Technology plays an every increasing role in today's society, students are often intimidated by the underlying science. The Introduction to Robotics class is intended to rekindle in students the sense of curiosity and enjoyment in learning about how the physical world works. The class is structured for both technical and non-technical students and has no pre-requisites. Robotics will be used to show how scientific knowledge is applied to the “real world”. Students will first learn how the basic components of a robot operate and then learn to join them together to form a robot. The class strategy is to learn science by “actually doing science”.

Students will use a robot kit like the Lego Mindstorm or Parallax BOE-Bot to design, build, test and modify their own robots. In the Labs students either individually or as teams will be challenged to construct robots that will perform tasks like:

• run an obstacle course
• perform a dance routine
• fetch an object
• follow a light
• play tag with another robot
• perform a choreographed set of tasks
• act as alarm clock

Students in the class will find a sense of artistic expression in that they will be encouraged to have their robots do whatever he or she thinks is “cool” for a robot to do. This facet of the Robotics lab will make it unique from other lab based physical science classes in that lab activities will not always be done by the “book”. At the end of the class students will be asked to demonstrate their “art” to an invited audience.

As part of curriculum students will learn about the technology which is everywhere around them. They will learn about the following:

• how computers work
• how sensors “sense the real world”
• how everyday technology like digital sound, video, cameras, and networks work
• how computer displays work

The goal of the class is to make science and technology accessible to the general student population by using robots as a means for students to apply knowledge to something which is both challenging and fun.