First year students in Computer Science get their own robots to take home
Our first year students in Computer Science have all received their own robot to take home, look after and experiment with throughout the year.
It is hoped that as well as giving them a chance to work on their practical skills outside the lab, the robots will enable students to compete with one another through tasks such as navigating obstacle courses. This will culminate in a ‘Robot Olympics’, to be held during the spring term.
Apart from moving in different directions, the robots (known as Finches) have a beak that can change colour, an accelerometer so the orientation is known, IR sensors to detect obstacles, a light sensor, a thermocouple to determine temperature and a buzzer.
Professor Martin Shepperd, Undergraduate Programmes Director in the Department of Information Systems and Computing, said: “Teaching programming to novices is traditionally challenging so we came up with the novel idea of giving each student their own robot to help with their learning. The bonus of these Finches is that they provide instant feedback - the student can see whether they respond as intended. If you write some code for the robot to turn left and it turns right then it's immediately apparent there's a problem.”
“We also hope that because they are fun to work with, they will arouse students’ curiosity and help them to gain a better understanding of the subject area.”
This is the first time such a large number of robots have been given out to students in such a way. The Finches, specifically designed by CMU and BirdBrain Technologies to support the teaching of computer science, have the advantage of being robust and affordable. The Department is also planning to take the robots into local schools, alongside Brunel students, to help support learning and encourage more young people to think about taking up computer sciences at university.
For further information please call Rebecca Griffiths at Communications Management on 01727 733885, email rebecca@communicationsmanagement.co.uk
Or Professor Martin Sheppherd, email martin.shepperd@brunel.ac.uk
