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Robot contest as a laboratory for experiential engineering education

Published: 01 June 2004 Publication History

Abstract

By designing, building, and operating autonomous robots students learn key engineering subjects and develop systems-thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork skills. Such events as the Trinity College Fire-Fighting Home Robot Contest (TCFFHRC) offer rich opportunities for students to apply their skills by requiring design, and implementation of autonomous robots that are tested during competition. Started in 2003, the TCFFHRC Robotics Olympiad offers junior-high and high school students, working alone or in teams, to demonstrate their knowledge by taking a challenging 50-minute written examination in four key areas related to robotics: mechanics, sensors, software, and electronics. The Olympiad comprises a second evaluation medium that supplements a regular contest survey, which has been in place since 1999. The contest survey solicits information about motivation and progress in subject areas from all contest participants--a large and diverse group that includes junior-high and high school students, working engineers, university students, and team supervisors/guides. As a further evaluation step, we have conducted supplementary case studies of courses and curricula at Trinity College and at the Technion. Assessment indicates that the TCFFHRC has achieved its primary goal: to foster and improve robotics education on an international scale.

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Published In

cover image Journal on Educational Resources in Computing
Journal on Educational Resources in Computing  Volume 4, Issue 2
Special issue on robotics in undergraduate education. Part 1
June 2004
60 pages
ISSN:1531-4278
EISSN:1531-4278
DOI:10.1145/1071620
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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 June 2004
Published in JERIC Volume 4, Issue 2

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Author Tags

  1. assessment
  2. competition
  3. design project
  4. education
  5. fire-fighting
  6. learning by doing
  7. olympiad
  8. robot
  9. robotics

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  • (2023) Interpersonal skills and STEM career choice of three types of FIRST mentors Journal of Engineering Education10.1002/jee.20550112:4(987-1011)Online publication date: 27-Jul-2023
  • (2022)Elementary Students’ Performance and Perceptions of Robot Coding and Debugging: Embodied Approach in PracticeJournal of Research in Childhood Education10.1080/02568543.2022.204539936:4(681-696)Online publication date: 14-Mar-2022
  • (2022)Towards a Tutoring System to Support Robotics Activities in Classrooms – Two Wizard-of-Oz StudiesInternational Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education10.1007/s40593-022-00305-233:3(688-719)Online publication date: 19-Aug-2022
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  • (2020)Educational-Oriented Mobile Robot: Hidden LessonsThe 11th International Conference on EUropean Transnational Educational (ICEUTE 2020)10.1007/978-3-030-57799-5_7(61-71)Online publication date: 15-Aug-2020
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