1. Business School Computing Division Colin Price “Learning Programming with Simulated Robots : IDE for Local and Distance (blended) Learning” HEAcademy

2. Overview of Programming at UCW Programming Digital Technologies X86 assembler Level 1 VBasic Digital Tech. FSM Neural Nets Level 2 “C” OOP VBasic Operating Sys. Multi-tasking Level 3 VBasic Comp. Architecture OOP X86 assembler Concepts and Philo. MSc. RISC assembler FSM OOP Neural Nets HEAcademy

3. OOP Level 2 & 3 = Java Web Page HEAcademy

4. Our Integrated Environment Distributed Simulator Simulator Robot mController HEAcademy

5. Rationale • CS Students may need to learn: • Various programming paradigms • Various programming languages • Operating Systems • Embedded Systems, Control • Artificial Intelligence Simulator Integrated Environment provides unifying thread connecting learning modules. Robot HEAcademy

6. Characteristics of this IDE • Same souce code runs on Robots as in the Simulator • Robot and Simulator engines ‘isomorphic’ • Same visual Robot World used for all languages (C, Java, FSM, NNet, LISP) • Principal programming paradigm is ‘Concurrent’ • Hardware is cheap, is ‘Industry Standard’ • Situates Computing in broader context of Cognitive Science, Ubiquitous Computing, Social Science HEAcademy

7. Why program robots? • Commercially viable • Serious promise of AI • Good vehicle for integrated learning of Programming • Analogy of living beings HEAcademy

8. Human Qualities Cognitive Psychomotoric Affective Acting Thinking Feelings Behaving Knowing Emotions Braitenberg Vehicles HEAcademy

9. Programming Behaviour Multi-tasking Collide bumper public void collide() { } Searchlight public void searchlight() { } CPU eyes public void wander() { for(;;) { wander_flag = true; wanderOpL = 10; wanderOpR = 10; muMonSleep(500); } } Wander HEAcademy

10. bumper Avoid s eyes Seek Light s Wander s Motors Combining Behaviours Subsumption (Brookes) Schemas (Arkin) HEAcademy

11. mRobot Demo HEAcademy

12. Approaches to Learning Programming Other important paradigms Deploying this Environment FSM • Year 1 students • FSM, Neural Nets • Year 2 students • Multitasking OS • Year 3 students • FSM, Neural Nets NNet HEAcademy

13. Finite State Machine Paradigm FSM Table Robot World HEAcademy

14. Neural Net Tool L Training Set Learned Controller R eyes motors HEAcademy

15. NNet Demo HEAcademy

16. Physical “mRobot” HEAcademy

17. OS Teaching Board RS 232 http://www.keil.com/ MBC900 Philips 89LPC932 HEAcademy

18. Pedagogical Dimension • Rapid, efficient, visual, fun learning to program • Skills transferable: ‘C’ and ‘Java’; 3 program constructs • Programming for action, interaction • Unrolling the constraints of the IDE, discover OO paradigm • Application of physics and math • Links between artificial and natural systems HEAcademy

19. ID ID Distributed Version • one student one robot • tutor selects robot world • chat area • self-organization ? chat HEAcademy

20. Pedagogy of Distributed System • Collaborative learning by common goal • Peer evaluation of programming success • Peer negotiation of tasks to meet learning outcomes • ? Formation of ad hoc learning groups • ? Management of ad hoc learning groups • ? Monitoring of individuals’ learning within groups HEAcademy

21. Structure of Distributed System Student (client) Tutor (client) Server controller code Server maintains lists javac engine chat Info xfer via RMI calls HEAcademy

22. Current Applications • ODEs Solver • Digital Simulator • Robot Programming 1 2 3 HEAcademy

23. Future – Agent Technology Java Applet Java Applet Java Applet Java RMI Server Java Servlet Students (client) Tutor (client) Server Java Agent Java Agent Java Agent Role of Agents : • negotiate formation of learning groups • monitor dynamics of groups • pedagogic – adapt learning materials (a)synchronous HEAcademy

24. Summary • Provides integration of programming effort • Multi-language ( “C”, “Java”) • Multi-paradigm: Concurrent, Procedural, FSM, NNet, Agent • Generalisable: Replace Robot with Atoms • Pedagogically interesting: Formation and Management of learning groups • Situates Computing in broader context of Cognitive Science, Ubiquitous Computing, Social Science, Philosophy, … HEAcademy

25. Acknowledgements Support Received from http://www.keil.com/ Hitex Ltd.Warwick University, Science Park Coventry CV4 7EZ http://www.hitex.co.uk HEAcademy