Development of a Universal Robotics API for Increased Classroom Collaboration within Robotics Education.
Linsalata, Robert.
2012
-
Abstract: An
increasing number of low-cost, simple robotics systems are being targeted to the
educational market as learning tools for a wide range of subjects, especially within the
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The diversity and
inherent coupling of software and hardware in robotics leads to integrated development
environments where programs and software ... read moreare restricted to the original robot hardware
upon which they are developed. The inability to collaborate and share robotics-based
curriculum because of hardware-dependent code, is holding back the full potential of the
technology as an educational resource. This thesis presents a Universal Robotics API
(URAPI), a set of processor-independent robotics instructions, which enables teachers
and students to write robotics code capable of running on any hardware. This enables
educators to share and access curriculum and content, no matter the resources available
in their classroom. The design and concepts of the URAPI system will be presented, along
with initial explorations via a Universal Data API for data logging and experimentation.
An implementation of URAPI in LabVIEW will then be demonstrated with a collection of
commonly used educational robots. The URAPI system enables teachers to write universal
robotics programs that allow educational robotics to break free of current constraints
through cross-platform collaboration and sharing of curriculum and
knowledge.
Thesis (M.S.)--Tufts University, 2012.
Submitted to the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.
Advisor: Chris Rogers.
Committee: Ethan Danahy, and Tully Foote.
Keywords: Robotics, Computer science, and Education.read less - ID:
- t435gr070
- Component ID:
- tufts:20902
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote