{"id":28522,"date":"2020-02-28T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T18:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=28522"},"modified":"2020-02-28T10:47:24","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T16:47:24","slug":"apsu-adds-more-robotic-classes-due-to-high-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2020\/02\/28\/apsu-adds-more-robotic-classes-due-to-high-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU adds more Robotic Classes due to high demand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – One quick observation bolsters the Austin Peay State University (APSU) decision to add robotics classes to the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology\u2019s offerings.<\/p>\n

\"Associate<\/a>

Associate professor Dr. John Nicholson teaching a robotics class at Austin Peay State University. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve been meeting a lot with a number of teachers in the local school system, and it takes you all of two seconds to realize how big robotics is in the schools around here,\u201d said Dr. John Nicholson, an associate professor in the department.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been volunteering to judge some of the robotics competitions, and those competitions are just as dramatic as any football or basketball game,” Nicholson stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a high interest in those students.\u201d<\/p>\n

One competition \u2013 FIRST Lego, in which K-12 students use motorized Lego elements to build robots \u2013 lists 15 school-based teams, for example, in Montgomery County.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear from the competitions that these kids love playing with robots,\u201d Nicholson said. \u201cWe want to show these students that you don\u2019t have to quit being interested in that sort of thing when you leave grade school, middle school or high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat can continue on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Peay State University recently introduced a concentration in intelligent robotics to its Bachelor of Science in computer science and last fall launched two new classes: Robotics I and II. The first group of students are taking Robotics II this semester.<\/p>\n

\u2018Robots are like babies\u2019<\/h3>\n
\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University student Isaiah Carmichael tests the computer vision of a TurtleBot II. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cRobotics is a very multidisciplinary field,\u201d Nicholson said. \u201cThe APSU Department of Engineering Technology has a robotics class for robots that would be used in manufacturing, more constrained environments. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe classes that I\u2019m teaching are more for autonomous robots,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe environment can change, and the robots have to live in it.\u201d <\/p>\n

The seven students in this semester\u2019s class are learning just how hard it is to get a robot to move through an unfamiliar space, just as humans maneuver new places every day. <\/p>\n

[320left]Robots fascinate student Quynh Tran, who wants to someday use what she\u2019s learning in class to help people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fascinating how robots learn to do things,\u201d Tran said. \u201cThey are like babies; you have to be very specific in giving instructions. As humans, there are many simple tasks we don\u2019t think about that require many chains of decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicholson shared this example. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen humans enter a new environment, they move around while starting to build a map mentally,\u201d Nicholson said. \u201cIf you enter a building enough, you\u2019ll eventually know the layout, if you need to go right or left to go to the bathroom. <\/p>\n

\u201cA basic robot problem is the same thing,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re getting to those important robotics problems that are still being worked on by researchers. What is the robot seeing? What is the robot sensing?\u201d <\/p>\n

Helping robots see and learn<\/h3>\n
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