Lessons Learned: The Evolution of an Undergraduate Robotics Course in Computer Science

TL;DR

This paper shares a seven-year experience of integrating robotics into a computer science undergraduate curriculum, highlighting lessons learned, challenges faced, and best practices for program development.

Contribution

It provides a detailed account of the evolution, decisions, and lessons from implementing a robotics course over seven years, aiding others in similar curriculum development.

Findings

Balancing depth and breadth in syllabus is crucial.

Physical robots enhance student learning and engagement.

Standardizing hardware/software simplifies implementation.

Abstract

Seven years ago (2016), we began integrating Robotics into our Computer Science curriculum. This paper explores the mission, initial goals and objectives, specific choices we made along the way, and why and outcomes. Of course, we were not the first to do so. Our contribution in this paper is to describe a seven-year experience in the hope that others going down this road will benefit, perhaps avoiding some missteps and dead-ends. We offer our answers to many questions that anyone undertaking bootstrapping a new robotics program may have to deal with. At the end of the paper, we discuss a set of lessons learned, including striking the right balance between depth and breadth in syllabus design and material organization, the significance of utilizing physical robots and criteria for selecting a suitable robotics platform, insights into the scope and design of a robotics lab, the necessity of standardizing hardware and software configurations, along with implementation methods, and strategies for preparing students for the steep learning curve.