1. A Robotics Introduction to Computer Science AAAI Spring Symposium 2007 Debra T. Burhans Canisius College burhansd@canisius.edu

2. Background Our CS sequence includes 4 introductory courses: breadth-first introduction, CS1, CS2, and large scale programming New topic-focused courses to replace the “vanilla” breadth-first course Web programming, C programming, Robotics, Bioinformatics

3. Audience Give me your tired, your math-phobic, Your huddled masses yearning to learn about robots. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore… www.uaf.edu/.../images/tired-campers_lg.jpg www.pipefitter.com/pfmg3.gif

4. Goals Build a “penbot” Modify the robot for a competition www.mdv.com/.../stanford_racing_team_stanley.jpg

5. Agenda History Problem solving and algorithms Binary representation Logic AI and robotics Ethical and social issues

6. Logistics Open lab time – staffed in the fall by three faculty (2 from CS, 1 from physics) Simulator!!! –Student project –Lego Mindstorms RCX –Current status is ???

7. History Creating human-like artifacts from the Ancient Greeks onwards http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images/eos.jpg http://keywords.oxus.net/images/seamonkeys.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kismet_(robot)

8. Binary Representation 101010111011010101011100110101010101011011101 111101010100111111000101010101001110001011111 … which just about sums it up…

9. Logic Fairly simple circuits Logisim Not connected directly to the robots http://www.plexoft.com/SBF/images/spock2.jpg cs-people.bu.edu/dbuzan/cs101/answers12.htm

10. AI and Robotics Learn about AI and robotics through –Readings –Film and TV –Interpretive dance http://www.nativehue.com/mysteria/images/2005/jelly-dance.jpg http://fusionanomaly.net/sheepdreams.jpg

11. Ethical and Social Issues http://www.primidi.com/images/bear_robot_carrying_soldier.jpg http://usmilitary.about.com/library/graphics/robot.bmp http://bdml.stanford.edu/twiki/pub/Courses/WellBeingTechnologyForElderly/domotica.jpg

12. Results 12 students Fall 2006, 8 students Spring 2007 Students who had already programmed were the most handicapped A couple students were very turned off (majors) due to complexity Attitudes of students towards the experience and computing were mostly very positive Opens their eyes in terms of computing possibilities www.splitfocus.org/pics/lis-robot.jpg