Remote Educational Programming Of Robots

(REPOR)

Tord Fauskanger Aurelie Aurilla Bechina Arntzen

Dag Samuelsen

Buskerud University College

Content

Motivation & Background Labs & Remote labs Robots Prototype Evaluation Conclusion

3

Motivation

Newton room project Teach Natural science Many students have problems with

programming Industry needs more IT labour

Danger of off-shoring Freshmen engineering students

Impressionable REPOR

4

Background

Java based introduction course All engineering students must take it Can choose field of study after 1st semester Exercises on PCs Some students have a hard time connecting

theory with use.

5

REPOR is structured like a Lab Practical work Theory Use

Issues Traditional labs are hard to share Traditional lab configurations are expensive Preparation & tear-down time

Labs

6

Remote labs(1)

Created to mitigate issues with traditional labs Save costs – time & staff

Set-up tear-down

Availability Remote 24/7

7

Remote labs(2)

Easier to share Students Institutions

Static experiments Enforced limits avoid bad use from students

8

Why robots?

Multidisciplinary Programming

Learning through play--FUN Make the robot “work” Experiment with robot Motivating

9

Remote lab selection

State-of-the-art CYBERLAB - Virtual Laboratory in Mechatronics: Access to Remote and Virtual e-Learning (MARVEL) LABNET [13], NetLab, ect…… Selection process

Re-usability Openness Availability State-of-the-art

10

iLab--MIT

Service oriented architecture Created for re-use Open Actively maintained Used in many other installations Conforms well with state-of-the-art Supports interactive experiments

11

The challenges

Remote availability Remote programming Robot substitution Adaptations

Multiple robot types iLab - interactive applets

12

Prototype

Client

Applet

Vid

eo

ha

nd

ler

Remote build

service

User commands Experiment web

serviceWS

wra

pp

erR

em

ote

bu

ild h

an

dle

r

Video Server

Source handling

Status handling

Compile

Deploy

Run

Save

13

Prototype

Distributed design Advantages

Re-uses iLab with modification Enables efficient sharing of robots Enables remote programming and monitoring

Inconvenience Lacks collaborative interface Code editor is very primitive NXT software gives little feedback

14

Testing

Designed for test Mock pattern Factory pattern

Distributed Version Control Distribution of software Remote testing – bug fixing

15

Demonstration

16

Evaluation

Comparison with other systems Focus on robotics as a whole

Questionnaire Observation

17

Questionnaire context

What do they currently think of intro to programming

How would they feel about integrating robot programming

Do some students choose not do Computer engineering, due to programming.

Would students use a system like REPOR

18

Questionnaire

55

88

55

55

77

Distribution amongs fields of study

Games DevelopmentEmbeddedMekatronicsCyberneticsProduct design

19

Questionnaire(2)

1414

77

88

11

Programming experience before HIBU

None(1)A bit(2)Some(3)Quite Some(4)

20

Questionnaire(3)

66

1212

1010

22

Opinion of programming education at HIBU

Not good(1)Some good(2)Good(3)Quite good(4)

21

Questionnaire(4)

22

1515

1313

Do you think you would be more motivated by tasks like programming of robots?

Not more(1)Quite more(4)A lot more(5)

22

Questionnaire(5)

1010

77

Considered taking computer engineering but choose not to because they didn't like pro-

gramming

ConsideredTotal

23

Questionnaire(7)

11

77

1313

88

11

Did you find the programming education to be useful?

Not useful(1)A bit useful(2)Useful(3)Quite useful(4)Very Useful(5)

24

Questionnaire(8)

44

99

77

88

22

Did you find the tutoring relevant for your ed-ucation?

Not relevant(1)A bit relevant(2)Relevant(3)Quite relevant(4)Very relevant(5)

25

Questionnaire(9)

22

1212 1616

Would you consider using the presented sys-tem?

Yes(3)Quite a bit(4)Very much(5)

26

Limitations of Questionnaire

Surveyor present with students Might influence the results

Number of students could be higher Students just shown the system Range of questions

Other questions might get other answers

27

Observation

To mitigate some of the limitations of the Questionnaire

Two students selected Minor browser issues Code editor could be better

28

Conclusion

State-of-the-art remote programming lab Some students have chosen not to do computer

engineering iLab suitable for re-use

Modified for interactive applets Students want to use the system REPOR enables remote programming of robots

29

Further work

Integration of collaborative tools Chat video

Improve code editor Extend robot support

30

Questions

KRAPONG/ KHATHANKS

Questions ?

31

References

[1]NXT Robot.jpg; http://www.handsontech.co.za/Images/Curricular/NXT%20Robot.jpg

[2]Jiaxin, H. and G. Rongfang. Motivation and Training Program on Robotics Education. In Computational Intelligence and Software Engineering, 2009. CiSE 2009. International Conference on. 2009.

[3]BOOK:http://www.uiwp.uiuc.edu/porfolio_2008/erin_ludwick/BOOK.jpg