Robotics as an educational tool

Abstract

This paper explores a new educational application of Piaget's theories of cognitive development i.e. the use, as a teaching tool, of physical robots conceived as artificial organisms. By using simple assembly kits, students at all levels are able to project and construct real robots that simulate the behaviors of animals. The process of constructing real robots helps students to understand concepts about complex dynamic systems -- in particular how global behavior can emerge from local dynamics. This is done through a construction process. In order to obtain a given behavior students modify both the "mind" and the body of artificial organisms. The construction of populations of artificial organisms helps the students to realize the difference between observing behavior at the individual (microscopic) level and at the population (macroscopic) level. The development of a population of robots with a given behavior is an evolutionary process. The selective reproduction of a population of r...