The primary goal of the creation of the Robotics Academy is to form a new multi-disciplinary, project-based teaching and learning environment for undergraduate students, involving students from different disciplines in the discovery process and exposing them to the joy of research and design through hands-on experience with real world problems. The Academy will include students (and teachers) from multiple universities (Tufts University and University of Nevada, Reno), giving the students and teachers the opportunity to benefit from specialties at other universities, as well as to collaborate with others remotely over the Internet.
Under the proposed system, junior students from multiple disciplines (i.e., mechanical engineering, electrical engineering/computer science, human factors, biochemistry/chemistry, and child development/education) will join the Robotics Academy, completing their major program of studies through a pre-defined "robotics thread". The "robotics thread" in each discipline consists of a set of courses that introduces the students to robotics and how it applies to their chosen fields. During their two years in the Academy, they will work in a team, composed of four students from different disciplines, on a common robotics project. This project will constitute their undergraduate honors thesis.
Each multi-disciplinary Academy team will work on a robotic project in one of 4 areas: Medical Robotics, Tele-robotics, Nanorobotics, and Robotic Toys. Medical robotic projects will be led by the responsible faculty in the Academy, in conjunction with surgeons (Tufts School of Medicine and the New England Medical Centre), veterinarians (with Tufts Veterinary School), or occupational therapists (Tufts University Boston School of Occupational Therapy). Through their robotics solution, students in these projects will aim to improve the quality of life of the patient, or improve the safety and productivity for a particular medical application. Tele-robotics projects will introduce students to concepts and applications of remote control and manipulation. This work will be done in conjunction with NASA scientists and will teach students about remote exploration. The Nanorobotics project will put students at the forefront of modern robotics, involving them in the cutting edge of nano-fabrication and control techniques. The final project area will be in the design of educational robotic toys. This project will build on the highly successful collaboration with the LEGO Corporation and the development of ROBOLAB at Tufts.
As a team, each team member will learn from and contribute to the process in the life cycle of the robotic solution. For instance, the mechanical engineering student will work on robot design and fabrication; the computer science/electrical engineering student will design the circuitry and program the intelligence of the robot. The human factors student will design the user interface to ensure safe and effective use, while the pre-service teacher on the team will implement the engineering education outreach efforts.
In addition, senior students in the Academy will act as mentors to junior students from another discipline. This arrangement allows for the students to receive individual attention, while encouraging communication across the disciplines. Each senior will also be responsible for teaching one Academy Hands-On Seminar, an afternoon class in some practical aspect of robotics that will be useful to all students in the academy. For instance, a mechanical engineering senior might offer a course in ProEngineer and CAD, whereas a child development student might offer a class in cognition and learning strategies.
Five robotics projects are planned for the first year, with two new projects being introduced in each subsequent year. Progress of the proposed program will be assessed throughout the three years of proposed funding. Results of the robotics projects will be documented on the Academy website and disseminated at conferences. The Academy is expected to be self-sustaining after three years, through industrial support for individual projects.
