A Model for Infusing Engineering and Programming Concepts in Introduction to Computer Courses at Community Colleges. Intro to Robotics and Programming Lab Intro to Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 Lab Intro to Embedded Programming Lab

Introduction to Robotics and Programming Lab This lab introduces students to the concepts of Robotics namely, the use of sensors to detect light and sound, object collision detection and avoidance and line detection and following. These are simple robot behaviors that an autonomous robot such as Scribbler from Parallax will be able to perform. Students will use the Scribbler programming software and is graphics based method of constructing behaviors which are uploaded to the BASIC Stamp microcontroller in the Scribbler Robot. At the end of the lesson student will be able to: 1) To describe the different functions of the Graphic User Interface of the Scribbler Programming Software 2) To identify the different components of the Scribbler Robot 3) To show how to build and upload a program to the Scribbler Robot. 4) To develop simple behaviors for the Scribbler Robot.

Introduction to Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 Lab This lab introduces students to the development environment of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio The framework of this development environment runs on a Windows environment with.Net compact framework. The run-time environment is comprised of Concurrency and Decentralized Software Services. MRDS showcases a visual programming language which makes it manageable to create asynchronous, state-driven robotic services. A Visual Simulation Environment is capable of running 3-D simulations and is useful for testing new algorithms and robots without a hardware setup. At the end of the lesson student will be able to: 1) To describe the different functions of the Graphic User Interface of the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2) To identify the different uses of the visual programming language 3) To create a virtual robot using the Visual Simulation environment. 4) To develop simple behaviors for the virtual robot.

Introduction to Embedded Programming Lab This lab introduces students to the associated hardware and applications needed to program a small processor. Small processors are commonly used in devices such as bar code scanners, breath analyzers, air conditioners and even the airbag module of your vehicle. The Renesas mobile program selected for this activity is USB powered and features light emitting diodes (LED), thermistor, LCD display screen, etc. and programs in the C language is downloaded directly to Renesas M62P 16-bit flash microcontroller. The students will be able to perform some basic programming exercises with this device. At the end of the lesson student will be able to: 1) To describe the different functions of the Graphic User Interface of the High Performance Embedded Workshop application 2) To identify the different components of the QSK62P Processor Board 3) To show how to build and run a program in the processor board. 4) To modify a few lines of code in an existing program.