Increasing Students' Interest with Low-Cost Cellbots
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 56, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2013 3 Increasing Students’ Interest With Low-Cost CellBots Rafael V. Aroca, Member, IEEE, Rafael B. Gomes, Dalton M. Tavares, Anderson Abner S. Souza, Aquiles M. F. Burlamaqui, Glauco A. P. Caurin, Member, IEEE, and Luiz M. G. Gonçalves, Member, IEEE Abstract—This paper introduces the use of a flexible and afford- a simple analog circuit is needed, and there is no need to use able educational robot specifically developed for the practical ex- microcontrollers. perimentation inherent to technological disciplines. The robot has This scheme allows the robot to take advantage of all the sen- been designed to be reconfigurable and extendible, serving as an sors and features of modern cell phones, which are frequently experimental platform across several undergraduate courses. As most students have a mobile cell phone, this was used as the main equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, control computer for the so-called CellBot, thus avoiding any need camera, 3-axis compass and accelerometer, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, to deal with the details of microcontrollers or other embedded com- speakers, microphone, and several other features that fitper- puting devices. Assessment results are also presented, based on a fectly in a robot control system. Also, it has been already pre- and post-survey of student opinion administered to 204 sci- shown that it is feasible to execute complex robotics navigation ence and engineering students from several universities. Among algorithms using the processors of mobile phones [7]. These the conclusions are that 83% of the students prefer to use these interesting possibilities were confirmed in a recent report in low-cost robots as tools to improve their learning of the theory in several disciplines, and 71% of the students stated that they prefer IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine identifying “Smart- to have their own robot to experiment with, instead of using a di- phone-based robots: The new robot brains” as one of the top dactic kit loaned to them by the university. robotics trends for 2012 [8]. During this research, 204 science and engineering students Index Terms—Audio interface, CellBots, engineering education, low-cost robotics, robotics education. were tracked in their several undergraduate courses during one semester to evaluate their interest in using low-cost robots. More than70%saidthattheywouldspendtheirmoneytobuildtheir I. INTRODUCTION own robot if it could be used in several courses. The main contri- bution of this paper is the application of a flexible and low-cost OBOTICS is a fascinating discipline that easily engages robot adapted from a previous work [9], disseminating the use of R engineering students. As robots in education are stimu- robotics for educational purposes. Also provided are a survey of lating and motivating [1]–[4], there are good reasons for in- state-of-the-art low-cost educational robots and an assessment troducing robotics activities very early in course curricula, al- of Brazilian students’ interest in robotics-related subjects in this lowing students to easily perceive the relationships between low-cost context. undergraduate courses, in their theory and practice. Robotics The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section II also offers a good basis for teaching different engineering disci- reviews the state of the art in related fields, presenting several plines [5]. Moreover, Weinberg and Xudong argue that “robotics worksdealingwithroboticsineducation. Section IV presents provides a unique learning experience” [6]. the material and methods used in this research. Section III The authors of this paper have noticed that when students presents some possible setups for low-cost robotics in educa- have the opportunity of experimenting with robots, they often tional environments. Next, Section V presents and discusses express a desire to have their own robots on which to experi- the results of applying the proposed platform in regular courses ment further at home. While they are ready to invest their free at several Brazilian universities. Finally, Section VI discusses time and money to build robots, few undergraduate students can the results, draws conclusions, and points future directions. spend much money on such projects. To address this constraint, this paper proposes a low-cost robot that uses the students’ mo- II. STATE OF THE ART bile phones as control computers, allowing them to build their Robotics is an ideal solution for curriculum integration, al- own robots. As the phone is used as the robot’s computer, only lowing students to use and integrate concepts learned in sev- eral disciplines [10], [11]. In some cases, courses are created specifically to use robots to teach several topics [1]. Teamwork Manuscript received May 21, 2012; accepted August 07, 2012. Date of publi- and multidisciplinary team skills are also enforced [11]. Further- cation September 07, 2012; date of current version January 30, 2013. This work more, most people learn more easily when hands-on practice is was supported by the National Research Council (CNPq), Brazilian Sponsoring Agency for Research. involved in learning activities [12], therefore robotics can be R. V. Aroca, R. B. Gomes, A. M. F. Burlamaqui, and L. M. G. Gonçalves used as a pedagogical tool that offers a “learning by doing” ex- are with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal perience [3], [13]. In what follows, several low-cost robots built 59078-900, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; for these educational purposes are described. [email protected]; [email protected]). D. M. Tavares is with the Federal University of Goias (UFG), Catalão 75704- 020, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]). A. Low-Cost Educational Robots A. A. S. Souza is with the State University of Rio Grande do Norte (UERN), Although robots are a great educational tool, Alves et al. warn Mossoró 59088-100, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]). G. A. P. Caurin is with the University of São Paulo (USP), São Carlos 13566- that the high cost of robots can prevent their being used in class- 590, Brazil (e-mail: [email protected]). rooms [3], [14]. In the same way, Lumsden and Ortega-Sanchez Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TE.2012.2214782 say that there is a lack of inexpensive and flexible mobile robotic 0018-9359/$31.00 © 2012 IEEE 4 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 56, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2013 platforms [15]. This reality led educators to propose several described in Pink’s book [21] that compiles several studies low-cost educational robots [2], [14]–[17] for teaching. on motivation. According to Pink, autonomous motivation, There are several articles in the literature describing low-cost which comes from individual interest “promotes greater con- robot designs for education; some of them are directly related ceptual understanding, better grades, enhanced persistence at to this work. Many propose low-cost educational robots, but in school ” [21]. He also argues that this kind of motivation most cases without actually giving these costs. Other authors leads to engagement. propose low-cost educational robots costing between $200 and One important issue in motivation is that the tasks must be $1000 USD [2], [15]–[17]. That might be a low cost for uni- neither too difficult nor too easy, otherwise the motivation is versities, but is expensive for most students who want to own a lost [20], or even worse, the tasks can cause frustration [21]. robot or a robotics kit, especially those in developing countries. According to Mok, a mismatch of task complexity and stu- Piperidis et al. report a survey showing that only 5% of dents’ skills hampers them from becoming deeply engaged [20]. commercially available mobile robots cost less than 100 Euros CellBots are interesting solutions to this problem because they (about $133 USD in April 2012). They further state that a robot allow a wide variety of topics and difficulties to be explored in suitable for both educational and research needs costs at least a single platform, suitable for freshmen and senior students. 3000 Euros (about $3972 USD). In conclusion, they say that there is a need for mobile robots with better cost benefitand propose a 500 Euro (about $662 USD) mobile robot [18]. As an III. LOW-COST EDUCATIONAL ROBOT alternative, Hamblen and Hall say that it is possible to keep the costs of a robot affordable for students if toy parts are used [2]. The Lumsden/Ortega-Sanchez robot [15] offers good cost/ A common approach used in several cases is the useofLEGO benefit. For about $755 USD, the system contains a 20-MHz kits [11], which are easy to use, but have limited flexibility and microcontroller, 4 kB of RAM memory, GPS, a 2-axis com- cost several hundred dollars. Another common solution found in pass, servos, electronics boards, liquid crystal display (LCD), robots made by students is the use of laptops as robot controllers, and motors. The differential drive robot used in this work can but unfortunately, laptop computers have limited I/O interfaces, be built for less than $15 using two model airplane micro ser- so auxiliary circuit boards must be used to connect sensors [2] vomotors to drive the wheels. A smartphone is used as the con- and actuators, and the robot must be robustifitistocarrya trol computer, featuring a 1-GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of laptop. RAM memory, gyroscope, 3-axis accelerometer and compass, One solution that is gradually gaining more attention is high-resolution camera, Internet connectivity using 3G/GPRS the use of smartphones as the main controllers of low-cost data services or Wi-Fi, and other features. robots [7]–[9], [19]. As mobile phones have several features If the student already has this kind of phone, she/he will only and sensors directly useful for robots, operating them as a have to spend a few dollars, but even if a mobile phone has to be robot’s main processing unit is an interesting option.