Experience Teaching a Multidisciplinary Project-Based Robotics Course Building Autonomous Mobile Robots

Abstract

Abstract Experience Teaching a Multidisciplinary Project-Based Robotics Course Building Autonomous Mobile Robots The robotics course taught as a professional elective in the RIT Mechanical Engineering programis a non-traditional project-based hands-on course in which students work in teams to buildautonomous mobile robots to accomplish a task. A micro-controller on-board is used to controldrive motors in response to sensors for object or boundary detection. Students complete five labexercises to get their robot literacy up to the point where they can effectively apply thetechnology to their project. Day-to-day homework is not required, and teams focus entirely ondeveloping a working robot. Teams must design, build, and test their robot all within a ten weekquarter time period. Due to the nature of the course, multiple disciplines of engineering aretaught and implemented in the final project. Students are required to build the chassis, constructsupporting electronics for sensors and program the microprocessor on-board. The evolution anddevelopment of the course, and experiences with various types of projects attempted will bediscussed in this paper, along with recommendations for individuals wishing to try such a courseformat.