IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2019 - 102

EDUCATION

Narrow the Scope to Deepen
the Study: A Recommendation for
Undergraduate Robotics Courses
By Benjamin T. Fine and Jory Denny

R

obotics is a highly technical
field that incorporates advanced
topics from a diverse set of
disciplines, including engineer-
ing, computer science, and mathe-
matics. With the rapid growth of
robotics in both academia and industry,
there is an increasing interest in and
need for introducing robotics edu -
cation into undergraduate curricula for
these disciplines.
A brief survey of current under-
graduate robotics courses reveals that
the variety of topics covered is as
diverse as the field itself, ranging from
introductory programming, funda-
mentals of electronics, foundations of
physics, overview of control theory, and
the basics of sensing to studies in plan-
ning and artificial intelligence. With
such a diverse set of topics, it is difficult
to provide both breadth and depth that
can have an impact to a large number
of undergraduate students.
The question we, as teacher-schol-
ars, are now faced with is how to appro-
priately deliver this diverse and highly
technical material to undergraduates,
who commonly have relatively limited
technical background and experience.
There are three key considerations in
answering this question:
1) the scope of topics to be covered,
including the depth of each topic
2) the curricular elements leading up to
the course
3) the career goals and motivations of
the student body.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2019.2891182
Date of publication: 12 June 2019

102

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IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

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JUNE 2019

Although these considerations seem
straightforward in developing any
course, we need to reevaluate them
given the varied skill sets required to
excel in robotics. As an example, com-
puter science majors might 1) have a
strong desire to program and focus on
algorithms; 2) lack many fundamentals
of physics, electronics, and mathemat-
ics; and 3) have the goal of working in
Silicon Valley.
From our survey of current under-
graduate robotics courses, many take
the approach of giving a general over-
view of robotics. These sorts of ap-
proaches start with robot hardware, a
wide variety of locomotion config -
urations (e.g., wheeled, tracked, and
limbed), and a good number of sensor
types and configurations; they then
progress all the way through motion
planning, environment representation,
and mapping. Even though this course
layout lends itself to familiarizing stu-
dents with the diversity of the field, it
does not easily lend itself to an under-
graduate curriculum. With students'
limited background and knowledge, it
is difficult for them to engage in and
retain information in a course that
quickly moves through a large array of
topics. It would better suit the student
to develop a course that goes into more
depth on fewer key topics. We recom-
mend that instructors consider focus-
ing the course more narrowly, e.g.,
exploring all of the aforementioned
topics specifically with a wheeled robot.
With this narrower focus, we can
still overview key concepts needed by
robotics practitioners (e.g., sensing,

planning, and kinematics) without
overloading students with a barrage of
material. For example, if we focus on
wheeled robotics, we can fine-tune all of
examples, projects, and lectures to that
theme, thus improving student engage-
ment with and retention of the material.
Of course, there are important technical
challenges when one moves outside this
limited scope, but we believe these top-
ics are not a good fit for the single
undergraduate robotics course com-
mon in many undergraduate curricula.
The other key benefit of narrowing
the course focus is to allow for a little
more depth. Every course we surveyed
was at the upper level in the respective
curriculum. Most upper-level courses
are more rigorous and conducted at a
deeper level of understanding than gen-
eral overview courses. A course in
robotics should do the same.
If you have bought into the notion of
a more narrowed scope for a robotics
course, then you must now consider
what focus would best fit into your
respective curriculum by understanding
the skill sets average students are
expected to obtain during their under-
graduate career. For example, let's say
you are developing a robotics course for
computer science students at a nonengi-
neering school. These students may
have a stronger background in pro-
gramming than in mathematics or
physics. In this case, a wheeled robotics
focus may be appropriate. A common
wheeled robot platform is based on
differential drive, the kinematics for
(continued on page 110)
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