Robots and Robot Venues: Resources for AI Education: AAAI 2007 Spring Symposium Homepage

		2007 AAAI Spring Symposium
		Robots and Robot Venues: Resources for AI Education

Welcome to the home page for the Spring 2007 AAAI symposium on robots in AI and CS education.

Thanks to everyone at the symposium! This page will remain active as an archive of the symposium's proceedings, (first-draft) papers, and talks. The final papers are available from the AAAI's proceedings of the symposium. Send an email to dodds at cs.hmc.edu if you'd like any material on this page to be updated or changed.

The one-hour robot competition and exhibition

Some of the participants in Wednesday's hands-on session tried our "whirwind tour" robot contest. The scores are measured in robot diameters. The top few places from this friendly event were

The tranterpreter team from U. Kent who implemented Occam-Pi on the Surveyor - 39 diameters
They were Christian Jacobsen, Matt Jadud, and Jon Simpson.
This team won a KoreBot Linux board and a copy of Webots, courtesy of Road Narrows Robotics

The CMU team of Ayorkor Mills-Tettey and Justin Carlson - 28 diameters

"Team Matlab," led by Jenelle Piepmeier as well as Eric Aaron and Tim Fossum - 20 diameters

Honorable mentions go to the Myro team for the most human-interactive entry and Tom Lauwers's Qwerkbot, which actually traveled 48 diameters (but Tom knew the platform in advance!)

The raw movies from these and the other runs are linked below under the Wednesday schedule.

AIBO replacement?

Through the symposium, the question "What is going to replace the AIBO?" was never fully - or even partially - answered. As at least a partial response, Jeff Croxell found this possible alternative, the "Joinmax" quadruped from Robotshop

Links and Information

AAAI Spring Symposium Page (registration and travel information)
The 2006 AI Magazine 27(1) and 2004 AAAI spring symposium page

Symposium Schedule and Sessions

Monday, March 26, 2007
9:00	Welcome and Introduction symposium cochairs
Robots in the AI Curriculum: Examples and Issues chair: Doug Blank
9:15-10:30 (~15 minute talks)	An Undergraduate Course in Robotics and Machine Intelligence slides Benjoe Juliano and Renee Renner Undergraduate Capstone Projects on Multi-Robot Systems slides Chris Kitts Advanced robotics projects for undergraduate students IPRE slides talk slides Doug Blank, Deepak Kumar, Jim Marshall, and Lisa Meeden Using AIBOs in a CS 1 course slides John Chilton and Maria Gini Robotics across the curriculum Betsy Sklar, Simon Parsons, and M Q Azhar
10:30-11:00 (coffee!)	break
11:00-12:30 (talk/break-out)	Real Robots Don't Drive Straight slides Fred Martin Break-out discussion: 10 things NOT to do when incorporating robots into an assignment, course, or curriculum -- and how to avoid them! Here are the notes and a summary from the breakout session.
12:30-2:00	Lunch
Emerging robotic platforms for education chair: Zach Dodds
2:00-3:30 (~15 minute talks)	A Pragmatic Global Vision System for Educational Robotics slides John Anderson and Jacky Baltes Demonstrating the Capabilities of MindStorms NXT for the AI Curriculum slides Frank Klassner and Myles McNally Educational Haptics David Grow, Lawton N. Verner, and Allison Okamura Roomba Pac-Man: Teaching Autonomous Robotics through Embodied Gaming Chad Jenkins and Brendan Dickinson Leveraging the Nanogram League RoboCup Competition in the Undergraduate Classroom Jenelle Piepmeier and Samara Firebaugh TeRK: A Flexible Tool for Science and Technology Education slides TeRK Illah Nourbakhsh, Emily Hamner, Tom Lauwers, Carl DiSalvo, and Debra Bernstein
3:30-4:00 (coffee!)	break
4:00-4:30 (3 minute teasers)	Robotics Education using Embedded Systems and Simulations slides Thomas Braunl Getting Down and Dirty: Incorporating Homogeneous Transformations and Robot Kinematics into a Computer Science Robotics Class slides Jennie Kay RoadNarrows Presents General Purpose Brain-Packs, Controller Boards, and Robots for Education and Research slides Kim Wheeler Low-cost On-board Linux, Vision, Wi-Fi, and more for the Roomba Robotics Base Tod E. Kurt Integrating Low-Cost Robot Devices into Pyro Tim Fossum and James Snow Map-Making with a Four-Legged Mobile Robot slides Kurt Krebsbach and Benjamin Willard Introducing the Blackfin Handyboard slides Fred Martin and Andrew Chanler Envisioning the Roomba as AI Resource: A Classroom and Laboratory Evaluation slides Ben Tribelhorn and Zach Dodds A Robotics Introduction to Computer Science slides Deb Burhans Concurrency, Robotics, and RoboDeb slides Christian Jacobsen, Matt Jadud, and Jon Simpson.
4:30-5:30	Demonstrations, exhibitions, and/or posters by the authors in this session and today's talks.
5:30-6:00	break
6:00-7:00	AAAI reception for all nine spring symposia
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Leveraging Robot Competitions and Exhibitions chair: Jeff Croxell and Ross Mead
9:00-10:30 (~15 minute talks)	Beyond Botball slides David P. Miller, Charles Winton, and Jerry Weinberg Extra-curricular Robotics: Entry-level Soccer for Undergraduates Susan Imberman, Aleksandr Barkan, Elizabeth Sklar Designing Robot Competitions That Promote AI Solutions: Lessons Learned Competing and Designing slides Jeffrey R. Croxell, Ross Mead, and Jerry Weinberg Finding the "Right" Robot Competition: Targeting Non-Engineering Undergraduates slides Susan Fox Mini Grand Challenge Contest for Robot Education slides Bob Avanzato
10:30-11:00 (coffee!)	break
11:00-12:15	Aerial Robotics Competition: Lessons in Autonomy Paul Oh, Keith Sevcik, and William Green Panel discussion: What features (do/would) make robot competitions & exhibitions compelling, accessible, and curricularly relevant?
12:15-12:30	Sponsors' Session: The Surveyor SRV-1, Howard Gordon, the Surveyor Corporation Road Narrows Robotics, Kim Wheeler, Chief Executive Officer
12:30-2:00 (Mmmm)	Lunch, sponsored by Road Narrows Robotics and the Surveyor Corporation.
Building community via robotics: within CS, across disciplines, and broader outreach chair: Holly Yanco
2:00-3:30 (~15 minute talks)	Materials for enabling hands-on robotics and STEM education Maja J Mataric, Nathan Koenig, and David Feil-Seifer Robotics Education in Emerging Technology Regions slides M. Bernardine Dias, Brett Browning, G. Ayorkor Mills-Tettey, and Nathan Amanquah Educating Teacher Students and Pupils Through Robotics Courses and Olympiads: A Tiered Approach Igor Verner and Evgeny Korchnoi Robotics Olympiads: A New Means to Facilitate Conceptualization of Knowledge Acquired in Robot Projects Igor Verner, David J. Ahlgren, and David P. Miller Integrating Service Learning with Undergraduate Robotics Research slides Renee Renner and Benjoe Juliano Robotics in Early Undergraduate Education David L. Duke, Justin Carlson, and Chuck Thorpe Artbotics: Combining Art and Robotics to Broaden Participation in Computing Holly A. Yanco, Hyun Ju Kim, Fred G. Martin , and Linda Silka
3:30-4:00 (coffee!)	break
4:00-4:30 (3 minute teasers)	Eclectic robotics for a mixed audience Jeanine Meyer and Rona Gurkewitz Robots in Education: Student Perspectives from the Classroom and from the Field slides Colleen van Lent, Adder Argueta, Russel Casella, Nate Jahns Enhance Students' Hands-On Experience With Robotics slides Daisy Tang Remote Shared Access To A Classroom Robotics Lab slides William Harris and David Arnow Teleworkbench: A Remotely-Accessible Robotic Laboratory for Education slides movie link (18mb) Andry Tanoto and Ulf Witkowski Robotics Tools in Neuroscience Education slides Jill Rogers, Anthony Lewis, and Liudmila Yafremava Robots can Wear Multiple Hats in the Computer Science Curriculum at Liberal Arts Colleges slides Christine Shannon Robots in an Interdisciplinary Course in the Liberal Arts slides Ellen Walker and Lee Braver Student Feedback on Robotics in CS1 slides Susan P. Imberman, Roberta Klibaner, and Sarah Zelikovitz Using Robotic Competitions in Undergraduate Philosophy Courses: Studying the Mind Through Simple Robotics slides John P. Sullins III
4:30-5:30	Demonstrations, exhibitions, and/or posters by the authors in this session and today's talks.
5:30-6:00	break
6:00-7:30	Plenary session for all nine symposia. Our speaker: David Miller
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Hands-on session: The "one-hour" robot competition/exhibition chair: symposium cochairs
9:00	Introduction and "Rules"
9:15-11:00 (go!)	Teams of ~3 participants work on their robots...
11:00-12:00	Teams run their robots, explaining as they go... . Some raw footage (mpeg movies) from the exhibition/competition... (Yes, my camerawork needs just that -- work!) (My favorites are the "davidMillerGrab" and "daisySusanFindRed") ayorkorJustin.mpg azarRun.mpg daisySusan.mpg daisySusanFindRed.mpg davidMillerGrab.mpg discussion1.mpg discussion2.mpg dougEtAl.mpg ericJanelleTime.mpg imbermanDance.mpg imbermanSetup.mpg jenelle.mpg justinRoomba.mpg myro.mpg stewartMyro.mpg tomTerk.mpg transterpreter.mpg transterpreter2.mpg wanderNearDavidMiller.mpg
12:00-12:30	Final summary and wrap-up symposium cochairs

In case it's of use, we will keep previous information available here.
Information in the schedule above supersedes these... .

Call for papers somber pdf version two-sided pdf version two-sided ppt version

This 2007 AAAI spring symposium will bring together hardware, software, and
curriculum designers for autonomous educational robotics, along with
interested educators and robot contest and exhibition organizers.

This group of ~50 will investigate and articulate how educators, especially
undergraduate educators, can leverage autonomous robots and robot-themed
venues as educational experiences.

We encourage you to submit emerging projects, curricular trials,
research-to-classroom bridges, robot exhibition & competition experiences,
and other work using robots for undergraduate AI and CS.

Submissions should be between 2-6 pages in length. Accepted submissions will need
to adhere to AAAI style, but initial submissions need not.

Email your submission (pdf, word, or other common format) to dodds@cs.hmc.edu.
Feel free to direct questions or concerns to any of the organizers.

Details:

Dates: March 26-28, 2007

Venue: Stanford University

Submission Deadline: October 6, 2006

Organizers:
- Doug Blank, Bryn Mawr College, dblank at brynmawr.edu
- Holly Yanco, U Mass Lowell, holly at cs.uml.edu
- Zach Dodds, Harvey Mudd College, dodds at cs.hmc.edu
- Jerry Weinberg, SIU Edwardsville, jweinbe at siue.edu
- Paul Rybski, Carnegie Mellon U, prybski at cs.cmu.edu

Tentative Schedule

Mon., 3/26/07 am: Platforms, Software, and Curriculum I
Mon., 3/26/07 pm: Platforms, Software, and Curriculum II
Tue., 3/27/07 am: Leveraging Robot Venues I
Tue., 3/27/07 pm: Leveraging Robot Venues II
Wed., 3/28/07 am: Hands-on robot exhibition for all participants

Additional Information and Links

This work was supported in part by funds from NSF DUE CCLI award #0536173.

2007 AAAI Spring Symposium