NRI-Small: Human-Robot Collectives as a Curriculum-Wide CS Learning Platform

下面的项目是为了重新定义在本科阶段学习计算机科学意味着什么。基于多年的研究和课程开发，罗切斯特理工学院(RIT)的项目团队正在共同建立在先前工作的基础上，设计一系列计算机科学课程，将机器人网络的使用结合起来，以促进学生的学习。在这个项目中，合作机器人团队与人类共享空间和任务，并被用作入门环境中的教学平台，以及学生可以开发甚至发明新服务的中高级课程项目的实验室平台。这种方法改进了传统的计算机科学教学方法，并为学生提供了大量使用协作机器人系统进行设计、测试和评估的机会。该项目集中于三个主要目标：(1)开发一个可供现有课程内所有级别的本科生使用并可被其他大学采用的协作机器人平台；(2)通过使用协作机器人平台的模块，提高学生对核心CS概念的参与和学习；以及(3)培养对协作机器人系统及其潜在应用有透彻了解的本科生。项目团队正在开发旨在介绍序列、数据管理和联网的模块。与模块开发相结合，重点是构建适合学生需求的硬件，使他们能够灵活地开发新的应用程序(代码)来操作和操纵协作机器人系统。该项目通过定性和定量措施来衡量新方法对学生结果的影响，目的是在RIT的背景下传播模型和技术。因此，该项目将加强关于在传统的本科计算机科学课程中有效使用协作机器人系统的知识库。

The following project is an effort to re-conceptualize what it means to study computer science at the undergraduate level. Based on years of research and curriculum development, the project team at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is collectively building on prior work to design a sequence of computer science courses that integrate the use of a network of robots to facilitate student learning. In this project, the co-robot teams share space and tasks with humans and are used as a teaching platform in an introductory context, and as a laboratory platform for projects in intermediate and upper-level courses in which students can develop and even invent new services. This approach enhances a traditional approach to teaching computer science and provides ample opportunities for students to design, test, and evaluate using co-robot systems. The project focuses on three main goals: (1) Develop a co-robot platform that can be used by undergraduates of all levels within the existing curriculum and is adoptable by other universities; (2) Improve student engagement and learning of core CS concepts through modules that use the co-robot platform; and (3) Develop undergraduate students with a thorough understanding of co-robot systems and their potential applications. The project team is developing modules aimed at an introductory sequence, data management, and networking. Coupled with module development, there is heavy emphasis on building suitable hardware that will serve the needs of students, giving them the flexibility to develop new applications (code) to operate and manipulate the co-robotics systems. The project measures the impact of the new approach on student outcomes through both qualitative and quantitative measures, with the intent of disseminating the model and technology beyond the context of RIT. As such, the project will enhance the knowledge base about the effective use of co-robotics systems in traditional undergraduate computer science courses.