Robotics for High School Students in a University Environment

Abstract

The Young Scholars Program at the Institute for Systems Research of theUniversity of Maryland at College Park is an innovative summer researchexperience for high school students from Maryland, Virginia, and WashingtonD.C. Its goal is to steer talented high school seniors toward higher educationand careers in science and engineering.One particularly popular component ofthis program is a two-week mini-course in robotics. This course utilizes theresources of the Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory of the university tointroduce and demonstrate theoretical and practical aspects of robotics. Thispaper reports on the characteristics that make this a unique effort inrobotics-related education for both the Young Scholars Program participantsand the small group of University of Maryland graduate students who have beenresponsible for the development and instruction of this course.The content of this material has been published in theComputer Science Education Journal, vol. 7, no. 2, 1996, 257-278.