Hampton University, in collaboration with Carnegie-Mellon University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, the University of the District of Columbia, Norfolk State University, Winston-Salem State University, Morgan State University, Jackson State University, Elizabeth City State University, Duke University, the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, and the University of Michigan, proposes the ARTSI Alliance (Advancing Robotics Technology for Societal Impact). ARTSI is a consortium of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and major research universities (R1s) working together to increase African American participation in computer science, with a focus on robotics. This extension proposal will expand ARTSI to seventeen Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and roughly 10 major research universities (R1s). Hampton University is the new lead institution; Carnegie Mellon University remains the lead R1 school. The extension introduces three new initiatives that (1) improve the quality and uniformity of robotics instruction by developing robotics curriculum modules specific to the needs of HBCUs, (2) pilot a program to attract STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) students to HBCUs by offering robot programming activities in local high schools, and (3) pilot skill-building program for rising sophomores to better prepare them to become involved in robotics research. The extension also includes new collaborations with the Caribbean Center for Computing Excellence (a BPC Alliance in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The project's main purpose was to integrate robotics into the computer science curriculum and use it to retain students in the STEM areas and to encourage students to pursue an advanced degree in the computer sciences. Each year several students were given an opportunity to work on robotic projects during the school year and present their results at the annual ARTSI Conference. The major activities during the project included: * Robotic outreach projects were done at a local high school and a community college. * A New robotics course added to the Computer Science curriculum. This course counts as an major elective. The course is an introduction to robotics and can be taken for undergraduate or graduate credit. * We Hosted a robotics conference at Florida A&M that brought students to the campus from several HBCU's and introduced students across campus to the work in robotics being done in the department and introduced students to several schools across the nation with opportunities in robotics. * We used our work in robotics to participate in the NASA Reduced Gravity Program (see attached pictures). The experiment was to introduced pseudo-gravity into a weightless environment. The robot used a fan system to keep stable on the surface of the plane even during moments of zero-gravity.
