BEST Robotics Practices (original) (raw)

Robotics competitions in engineering eduction

2009 4th International Conference on Autonomous Robots and Agents, 2000

Internationally engineering education has had to become more pro-active in attracting students with the technical knowledge, skills and motivation enabling them to excel in four or more years of study with the ultimate goal of addressing the ever-growing demand for qualified engineers from the industry. General public perceptions that engineering is a difficult career field while offering inadequate financial rewards as compared to alternative fields have resulted in significant reduction in student numbers, particularly among high quality students across all the engineering, sciences and technical disciplines. This paper presents the experience of using robotic competition events to motivate school students and help them appreciate what is involved in an engineering design and development fields.

Practical Application of Robotics Competition for STEM Education

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings

Sidra is an Undergraduate Student in Electrical Engineering at Cal State LA. She currently serves as the president of the Robosub student organization, the events coordinator for the Biomedical Engineering Society, and is an active member of the microfluidics and point-of-care diagnostics research lab of Dr. Frank Gomez. Her research interests include computer vision and biomedical applications of artificial intelligence.

Robotics olympiads: A new means to integrate theory and practice in robotics

Computers in Education Journal, 2007

His research interests are in science, mathematics, and engineering education with emphasis on technological learning environments, physical models, experiential learning, robot design and operation, spatial imagery, mechanical aptitude, mathematical learning in the context of engineering and architecture.

P-12 Robotics Competitions: Building More than Just Robots – Building 21st Century Thinking Skills

In S. Purzer, J. Strobel, and M. Cardella (Eds.) Engineering in Pre-College Settings: Synthesizing Research, Policy, and Practices , 2014

As shown in the previous chapters, informal learning manifests itself in a variety of ways. This is especially true with science and engineering. In this chapter, we will explore how robotics competitions build awareness and interest in science and engineering in middle and high school students by providing challenging and engaging learning opportunities in a setting that inspires students to pursue careers in science and technology in the same way professional sports inspires young people to pursue careers as professional athletes. We will then examine how the competitions engage students in the engineering design process and in the application of mechanical and electrical engineering skills. The chapter ends with a discussion of how participation in robotics competitions goes beyond just building robots by showing the impact of these competitions on the development of 21st century skills, such as creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, and communication and collaboration.

Secondary School Robotics COIIlpetition

2013

While several national and international robotics competitions have been established to cater for enthusiasts or experts from universities or research laboratories, few have been developed which operate successfully at the secondary school level. At a time when universities are keen to encourage secondary school students into science and engineering disciplines, and schools are looking to bolster their technology programs, such competitions provide a win-win scenario. The major difficulties in establishing such a competition include (1) devising an inexpensive robot and associated task that challenges the student, (2) raising the skill level of teachers to a point where they are confident to run such an activity and (3) establishing a broad base of expertise to support large numbers of participants. In this paper we detail the development, features and outcomes of the Robot Bilby Competition. The use of workshops and school visits to impart the necessary skills to teachers, and the ...

Educational Robotics Theories and Practice: Tips for how to do it Right

Robots in K-12 Education: A New Technology for …, 2012

Educational robotics is a growing field with "the potential to significantly impact the nature of engineering and science education at all levels, from K-12 to graduate school" (Mataric, 2004, para. 1). It has become one of the most popular activities in K-12 settings in recent years. Educational robotics is a unique learning tool that creates a learning environment that attracts and keeps students interested and motivated with fun, hands-on, learning experiences. Many educators might ask; "What is educational robotics?" and "What does it do, and what is it for?" The purpose of this chapter is to present the foundation of educational robotics-from its background, pedagogical theories relating to educational robotics, learning experiences that educational robotics can provide, to tips for how to do it right. It aims to provide guidance on implementing educational robotics for K-12 educators in their educational settings.

Winning Robotics Competition Strategy: Theory of Creating Projects in Robotics Education

R&E-SOURCE

The subject of robotics in education has a significant impact on the development of skills of students. Studying the main factors motivating robotics to participate in competitions, project competitions, and win prizes is always relevant. There are many competitions in robotics. In particular, one of the competitions for developing robotics in education is WRO. However, it is essential to know and research several factors that can lead to a place in a competition and support young coaches and participants. Higher education institutions that already have courses in educational robotics can benefit from the proposed approach, which allows them to develop new projects with robotics elements.

Robotics camps, clubs, and competitions: Results from a US robotics project

Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 2016

Lincoln has spent the last eight years developing and implementing a comprehensive educational robotics program for youth ages 9-14. The program was delivered in informal (out-of-school) learning environments through robotics camps, clubs, and competitions and provided robotics experiences to over 5,000 youth and 400 educators. The goal of the project was to positively impact the youths' science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and attitudes-and to foster an interest in STEM careers. Results of extensive research and evaluation showed that youth participation in the robotics activities increased their STEM content knowledge (particularly engineering and computer programming), their perceived problem solving skills and their interest in engineering careers. Youth also perceived that the robotics activities were different from those in school, reporting that the robotics camp was more interesting and involved more hands-on activities.

Educational robotics for promoting 21st century skills

This paper introduces an educational robotics course offered as one of the Interdisciplinary Studies Courses under General Education category at a liberal art college that serves predominately underprivileged population of students from neighboring communities in New Jersey. It also presents the case study to examine participated students' learning from the course. The results show that, although the focus of the course is the educational robotics and programming to control robots created with LEGO Mindstorms, the students identified their learning of collaboration and cooperation skills as well as communication skills as one of the best learning outcomes from the course.

Turning Competitions into Global Collaboration through Educational Robotics

2015

The chapter introduces a case of an educational robotics competition promoting global collaboration among participating students. Educational robotics is a learning tool that promotes the skills for collaboration and teamwork among students (Eguchi, 2007a, 2007b; Miller, Nourbakhsh, & Sigwart, 2008) through hands-on learning. When RoboCupJunior, an educational robotics competition, noticed some students becoming aggressively competitive at its annual World Championship, the organizers of the event decided to take measures to restructure its competition scheme in order to promote global collaboration among participating students. The chapter provides detailed information about the competition and its efforts to promote global collaboration among participating teams. In addition, although it is still in the early stages, the chapter shares anecdotal accounts of both participating students and organizers that confirm the positive impact the new approaches to competition has already had on encouraging collaboration among participating students.