CSC 126 Introduction to Robotics Fall 2010 Syllabus Instructor: Dr. Jan Pearce C.P.O.: 1815 Office: 304-B Draper Hall (859) 985-3569 Office Hours: MTWR 2:00-2:50 P.M. E-mail: [email protected] Feel free to send e-mail for appointments at other and/or additional times on MWF The CSC 126 Course Description Robots often perform tasks that are too dull, too dirty, or too dangerous for humans. Robots entertain us, clean our houses, mow our lawns, build our cars, fight our wars, perform surgery on our bodies, dive to the bottoms of the deepest oceans on our planet, and visit distant planets in our galaxy. This course introduces the fundamental concepts of robotics. Topics include how robots move, sense, and perceive the world around them. Students will construct and program robots in laboratory sessions. No previous computer programming or electronics experience is necessary. This course is designed to meet the PR Practical Reasoning Requirement. Prerequisite: Completion or waiver of developmental mathematics or the consent of the instructor is required. The Course Goals - To gain familiarity with the interdisciplinary field of robotics, including sensing and movement - To learn a computer language used for communication with the robots and reflect upon human language - To become familiar with widely used programming structures in a variety of settings, including structures such as assignment, looping, conditional statements, and the use of variables - To learn to use appropriate criteria to evaluate reasoning and to recognize different patterns of logic and reasoning, including faulty patterns - To learn to more effectively communicate logical and computational ideas to others - To become more comfortable and effective working in a team setting The Course Home Page Our course home page is located at http://faculty.berea.edu/pearcej/CSC126/. Use this page as a resource to find this syllabus, course readings, homework, labs, and other course-related information. Texts: - Required: The Robotics Primer by Maja J. Mataric, MIT Press, September 2007, ISBN-10: 0-262-63354-X & ISBN-13: 978-0-262-63354-3 - Recommended: The Case of the Killer Robot: Stories about the Professional, Ethical, and Societal Dimensions of Computing by RG Epstein The Service Projects and the Final Project There will be two service outreach projects in the course in which we introduce robots to children in our wider community. There will not be a final examination in this course. Instead, a final project will be due during the scheduled final exam week. More information will be given on all of these.Technology Policies Much of the work in this course will require use of the computer, so these policies are designed to help students better understand how to be effective in a technology-rich environment. - Laptop and Software: Each student is required to bring his or her appropriately equipped laptop to class every day except when otherwise announced. - Unapproved Technology: The in-class use of unapproved technology will not be tolerated and in certain cases will constitute a violation of academic honesty. For example, no games are ever acceptable and communication programs, such as e-mail or instant messaging programs, are only acceptable for class work during class, so must otherwise be disabled before class. Likewise, cellular phones and pagers must be disabled before class. To help students to appreciate the gravity of this policy, each and every in-class use of unapproved technology will result in a 1% reduction of the student's homework assignment grade. - Teamwork and Citing: Team participation is a proven and useful means by which students can learn material, and all team members are expected to distribute all materials generated by the team to all team members. In addition, much information is easily accessible by searching the web. Students are encouraged to appropriately use information from other students, the web, and other resources. However, any information used from other students or any other resource MUST BE CITED. - Email and Web: Electronic communication programs are useful when used appropriately, so each student is required to use the course web page to access assignments and to use a Berea College e-mail account to facilitate electronic communication outside of class. - Backups: All students are expected to back-up their work, which includes assignments, labs, and exams daily. The best way to do this is to store a copy of all work on a DVD, CD, flash drive, or some other media, and not in another location on their laptop. The normally understanding instructor will not be at all sympathetic to loss of electronic work, so it is the student's responsibility to protect his/her work from such heartbreaking loss. - Exceptions: Exceptions to any of these technology policies will be considered on an individual case-by-case basis but will only be granted under extremely unusual circumstances. The Attendance Policy Class lectures, discussions, and in-class laboratory work are considered to be a vital key to success in this course. It is the hope of the instructor that class sessions are both informative and useful; therefore, attendance is expected at each class session unless a specific exception is made. If you are sick with flu-like symptoms, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. Therefore, please do not come to class if you show flu-like symptoms. Instead, e-mail me from your room and go to health services immediately. When you return to class, bring paperwork showing that you sought medical attention that day and your absence will be excused. Students who come late, leave early, or fail to fully participate during the class will be considered absent for that portion of the period, and such partial absences will accumulate. The final grade may be lowered by one third of a letter grade for each unexcused absence beyond the third. Thus, it is the responsibility of the student to contact the instructor about each absence from class. This should be done via email, as soon as possible, and if at all possible before the absence occurs. Students who miss class are held responsible for all of the material covered, assigned, and collected during their absence. Quizzes will be announced and/or occasionally "popped," and because I will drop