Dancing Humanoid Robots Lab Demonstration for the First Year Engineering Students

Nebojsa I Jaksic; Boyan Li; Benjamin Maestas; Katheryn Michelle Rothermal

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Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: First Year Computing Topics
Tagged Division: Computers in Education
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--28099
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/28099
Download Count: 961

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Paper Authors

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Nebojsa I Jaksic P.E. Colorado State University, Pueblo orcid.org/0000-0003-1695-790X

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NEBOJSA I. JAKSIC earned the Dipl. Ing. degree in electrical engineering from Belgrade University (1984), the M.S. in electrical engineering (1988), the M.S. in industrial engineering (1992), and the Ph.D. in industrial engineering from the Ohio State University (2000). He is currently a Professor at Colorado State University-Pueblo teaching robotics and automation courses. Dr. Jaksic has about 70 publications and holds two patents. Dr. Jaksic's interests include robotics, automation, and nanotechnology engineering education and research. He is a licensed PE in Colorado and a member of ASEE, IEEE, and SME.

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Abstract

First year engineering students face many academic challenges. Some of the students find difficult to study the language of the profession (mathematics), basic physical laws and facts, as well as general education topics without additional extrinsic motivation. Due to the fast pace of technological advances, faculty are often challenged when trying to find new and exciting engineering examples to motivate their students.

This work addresses an exciting humanoid robots laboratory demonstration developed by students (one senior and two master’s students) for the first year engineering students. The goals of the demonstration are to entice the first year mechatronics engineering and industrial engineering students, and to motivate them to continue with their engineering studies. For this task, three robotic kits, Robotis Premium, from Robotis, Inc. are acquired; three humanoid robots (18 Degrees of Freedom each) are assembled, and a three minute robotic dance choreography is created and programmed. The performance of the robot dance group is included in the regularly scheduled lab session of the Introduction to Engineering course. Before the presentation, the students are asked to comment on their level of excitement with respect to their engineering studies. Then, one of the student authors shows one of the robots; identifies the servo-motors, various sensors, joints/links, and details the functions of the robot controller. After this, another student describes the robotic programming environment (R+ Manager, R+ Design, R+ Task, and R+ Motion) and demonstrates programming of a simple robot motion. Finally, the three robots are placed on a table; their program starts are synchronized by a single clap; and the dancing music is started. While dancing, the robots demonstrate various motions, often emphasizing the ones that many humans can’t perform. After the demonstration, the first year students are asked to rate how much they liked the robotic dance performance, and to again comment on their level of excitement for being in an engineering program.

This work will include a lab justification, curricular context, description of the robotic hardware, controller, programming environment, and the dance program. The results of the short pre- and post- questionnaire will be provided and analyzed. Conclusions will be presented.

Citation
Format

Jaksic, N. I., & Li, B., & Maestas, B., & Rothermal, K. M. (2017, June), Dancing Humanoid Robots Lab Demonstration for the First Year Engineering Students Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28099

TY - CPAPER
AB - First year engineering students face many academic challenges. Some of the students find difficult to study the language of the profession (mathematics), basic physical laws and facts, as well as general education topics without additional extrinsic motivation. Due to the fast pace of technological advances, faculty are often challenged when trying to find new and exciting engineering examples to motivate their students.

This work addresses an exciting humanoid robots laboratory demonstration developed by students (one senior and two master’s students) for the first year engineering students. The goals of the demonstration are to entice the first year mechatronics engineering and industrial engineering students, and to motivate them to continue with their engineering studies. For this task, three robotic kits, Robotis Premium, from Robotis, Inc. are acquired; three humanoid robots (18 Degrees of Freedom each) are assembled, and a three minute robotic dance choreography is created and programmed. The performance of the robot dance group is included in the regularly scheduled lab session of the Introduction to Engineering course.
Before the presentation, the students are asked to comment on their level of excitement with respect to their engineering studies. Then, one of the student authors shows one of the robots; identifies the servo-motors, various sensors, joints/links, and details the functions of the robot controller. After this, another student describes the robotic programming environment (R+ Manager, R+ Design, R+ Task, and R+ Motion) and demonstrates programming of a simple robot motion. Finally, the three robots are placed on a table; their program starts are synchronized by a single clap; and the dancing music is started. While dancing, the robots demonstrate various motions, often emphasizing the ones that many humans can’t perform. After the demonstration, the first year students are asked to rate how much they liked the robotic dance performance, and to again comment on their level of excitement for being in an engineering program.

This work will include a lab justification, curricular context, description of the robotic hardware, controller, programming environment, and the dance program. The results of the short pre- and post- questionnaire will be provided and analyzed. Conclusions will be presented.

AU - Nebojsa I Jaksic P.E.
AU - Boyan Li
AU - Benjamin Maestas
AU - Katheryn Michelle Rothermal
CY - Columbus, Ohio
DA - 2017/06/24
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Dancing Humanoid Robots Lab Demonstration for the First Year Engineering Students
UR - https://peer.asee.org/28099
DO - 10.18260/1-2--28099
ER -