A Two-semester Project-based Robotics Curriculum

Abstract

Robotics is a set of ideas and technologies that transform civilizations by enabling computers to interact intimately with the physical world, especially in hostile and hazardous environments for humans. Recent technological advances and societal needs have yielded considerable developments in the field of robotics. Since the first fixed robotic manipulator, Unimate, at a General Motors plant in 1961 1 , the robotics field has evolved to combine machines interacting with humans and environments in different settings such as autonomous cars 2, 3 , vacuum cleaners 4 , humanoids 5, Based on the robotics field estimated growth rate of up to 13% 9 , comprehensive undergraduate 10 as well as graduate research programs 11, 12, 13 , remote 14 or virtual 15 educational labs, a number of robotics competitions 16, 17, 19, 20 including the DARPA Urban Challenge 18 , and extensive summer demonstrative 21, However, Hispanic serving institutions face a bigger challenge since Hispanics are less likely to earn engineering or engineering technology degrees 25 . Moreover, the only current USA dominant position in fundamental robotics research 1 can be strengthened via robotics programs that address the shortage of interest and pipeline issues, effectively answering the world challenge on applied and industrial robotics applications. However, a stand-alone robotics program is a formidable challenge for many institutions with limited faculty, space, and funding sources, due to the inherently interdisciplinary nature of robotics field coverage and laboratory hands-on instrumentation requirements. Thus, a concise and collaborative robotics curriculum, tracking a national design competition and offering a mentoring opportunity, can provide significant contributions for a viable solution, with many pedagogical benefits.