Autonomous Robotics
EECS/BIOL 375/475
Fall 2005
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This course uses LEGO beams, plates, gears, motors, a 68HC11 microcontroller board programmed in C, and various sensors to construct autonomous (i.e., self-contained, no direct human control) robots. The first half of the course is structured exercises in practical programming, LEGO mechanics, sensor principles, and software design, all presented with a biological slant--we consider autonomous robots to be model systems for the study of animal behavior. The second half of the course is spent designing robots which can compete in an Egg Hunt competition.
The 375 course is intended for undergraduates. The 475 course is intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduates; there is extra coursework (7 written lab reports, a final 10-page design paper, extra exercises, outside readings) required for graduate credit.
There are no formal prerequisites. We will teach you everything you need to know.
Fall 2005 is the 20th semester of Autonomous Robotics; 522 students have taken the course through Fall 2004.
See hi-res color photos of the past Egg Hunt robots.
Watch some of the past 18 Egg Hunts!
Our article, Using autonomous robotics to teach science and engineering, appeared in Communications of the ACM 42(6), 85-92 (June 1999). In Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Tag, you're IT, an article about a related summer course for secondary school teachers and their students, Inquiry-Based Approaches to Autonomous Robotics (BIOL 803), developed by Dr. Rich Drushel, was featured on the Howard Hughes Medical Institute website in July-August 2003. In Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
No extra sessions currently scheduled.
The MIT 6.270 Course, the original LEGO robotics course by Fred Martin, Randy Sargent, Anne Wright, P.K. Oberoi, et al., which directly inspired our course.
The Art of LEGO Design by Fred Martin. In Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
The Handy Board Home Page, which details the commercially-available descendant of the original 6.270 computer board designed by Fred Martin.
Gleason Research, an excellent and highly-recommended vendor of the MIT Handy Board.
The LEGO Home Page, where you can see LEGO's own version of programmable robots, the RCX Programmable Brick.
Robotic Design Studio, a multidisciplinary LEGO robotics course at Wellesley College, developed by Franklyn Turbak and Robbie Berg.
The Robot Laboratory Resource Kit for Teaching Artificial Intelligence, created by Deepak Kumar and Lisa Meeden.
Autonomous Robotics at CWRU began in Spring 1995, made possible by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
General Motors Corporation, Parker Hannifin Corporation, PCBexpress, the Ohio Space Grant Consortium, The Case School of Engineering, and the Case Alumni Association have been prior sponsors.
Last updated 1 August 2005, by RDB and HJC