Please note the following CFP for an upcoming AAAI Spring Symposium on AI and Robotics education. We hope this symposium is of broad interest to members of this list. Please note that the deadline for submissions is **October 3rd**. Feel free to contact Lloyd Greenwald at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with any questions.
CALL FOR PAPERS AAAI Spring Symposium March 22-24, 2004 Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Accessible Hands-on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Education http://itcsl.cs.drexel.edu/ss2004 ** Description: While robot platforms have played a role in artificial intelligence and robotics education for over 30 years, the cost and size of these platforms have limited their reach. Recently, low-cost robot platforms have emerged, extending hands-on educational benefits to a diverse audience. Examples of the flurry of activity in this area include competitions and exhibitions at all levels, the availability of on-line curricula and textbooks, journal special issues, and recent AAAI workshops on Robotics and Education. We believe that these low-cost platforms have matured sufficiently to become a standard tool for teaching artificial intelligence and robotics to advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students. Furthermore, the accessibility of low-cost platforms introduces the exciting prospect of expanding artificial intelligence and robotics educational opportunities outside the classroom, including non-traditional venues such as museums and do-it-yourself websites. Providing accessible hands-on learning experiences will help inspire the next generation of artificial intelligence and robotics scientists and engineers. Incorporating hands-on exercises into classroom and public venues excites students and provides insights that are difficult to achieve with paper-and-pencil exercises or even simulator programming. Unfortunately, it is extremely time-consuming to build and manage a course that includes hands-on robotics. Existing texts and curricular material stress the use of robots in K-12 education, general engineering, and general computer science. Courses focusing on AI topics, however, tend to push low-cost robotic systems up to -- and sometimes past -- their limits. As a result, the AI community will benefit from (1) an organized set of tested, refined laboratory exercises and (2) the insights of educators who have successfully designed and run such labs. The purpose of this symposium is to disseminate the experience of early adapters by gathering instructional material in a form that can be directly used to build artificial intelligence curricula with hands-on robotics exercises. Our goal is that this symposium results in a collection of material that simplifies the process of creating and running such courses. These materials may be further extended to engage the public in artificial intelligence and robotics research activities. We envision the following contributions: o Step-by-step instructions for using a variety of low-cost platforms to teach individual artificial intelligence topics; o Inventory and directions for developing low-cost robot kits and managing the use of these kits in the classroom; and o Guidance for curricular development that helps instructors choose platforms and select step-by-step material to meet their goals. This symposium will bring together artificial intelligence educators and robot education practitioners, including curricula creators and low-cost platform designers. Rather than seeking traditional research papers, we are especially interested in contributions that provide (1) step-by-step lab exercises, (2) detailed descriptions of low-cost platforms and first-hand classroom experiences with them, and/or (3) discussions of curricular development and the educational impact of inexpensive hardware within AI-related courses. We are also interested in contributions that discuss the embedding of artificial intelligence and robotics education in non-traditional venues. One example is the JPL Web Interface for TeleScience (WITS) that provides Internet-based control of planetary lander & rover missions, via the same tool used by NASA scientists. The symposium will include demonstrations of step-by-step robot exercises and video demonstrations of example robotics projects. Panel sessions will explore how to build a lab-based artificial intelligence curriculum, and how to balance theoretical and hands-on material to achieve educational goals without overwhelming the students or instructor. Example step-by-step hands-on artificial intelligence and robotics topics include: - particle filtering - neural network learning and inference - Bayesian network learning and inference - heuristic search - planning and scheduling - constraint satisfaction - sensor fusion - hidden Markov model learning and use - sequential decision models - resource bounded reasoning - multi-robot coordination and cooperation - computer vision, image processing Example educational papers include: - ways to approach and evaluate hands-on AI education - the use of newer low-cost robotic platforms, e.g., PINO - the future of low-cost platforms - the embedding of hands-on learning in non-traditional venues ** Submissions Guidelines: Potential participants are asked to submit educational material that satisfy one or more of the contribution classes described above. Submissions should be 2-6 pages in length. If you are submitting assignments or lab exercises please try to follow the following format: 1. Educational objectives 2. Background material (including reading assignments and study questions) 3. Description of hardware and software required (platform, sensors, compilers, etc) 4. Step-by-step instruction (including pictures and other media) 5. How to evaluate results 6. Extended discussion for further study 7. Links to web resources, videos Participants submitting step-by-step labs will be encouraged to demonstrate their labs either with actual systems or through video presentations. Please email submissions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Deadline: October 3rd, 2003. ** Web Site and Mailing List: http://itcsl.cs.drexel.edu/ss2004 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ** Organizers: Lloyd Greenwald, Drexel University Zachary Dodds, Harvey Mudd College Ayanna Howard, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Sheila Tejada, University of New Orleans Jerry Weinberg, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville - -- Lloyd Greenwald, Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science Drexel University (215) 895-2678 Philadelphia, PA 19104 www.cs.drexel.edu/~lgreenwa
