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Robotics Program in Demand, Awards First Minor Degrees
June 6, 2011
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Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's robotics program took
another step forward this spring as 13 graduates were awarded the
college's first robotics minor academic specialty.
The program started three years ago as a certificate
program. It is now a minor degree area available to students
of any course of study.
"This program has far exceeded our expectations," states
Carlotta Berry, assistant professor of electrical and computer
engineering. She is one of five faculty members teaching
courses in Rose-Hulman's first multidisciplinary minor degree
program.
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Twelve percent of the 2010-11 freshman class reported interest
in the robotics minor and/or chose to attend Rose-Hulman because of
the robotics program. While 13 graduates earned the robotics
minor this year, that number could increase to as many as 24
students next year.
Rose-Hulman will highlight each graduate's status in the
robotics program by awarding specially designed robotics pins each
year, and students were encouraged to wear the pin on their
commencement gown.
Nearly all of this year's inaugural robotics minor class had a
career path planned after graduation, through employment or
graduate school. The list of companies hiring these graduates
included Alcoa, Texas Instruments, Northrop Grumman, Proctor &
Gamble, National Instruments and Cummins. One graduate is
spending the summer in NASA's robotics program before attending
graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University's prestigious
robotics program.
Rose-Hulman's robotics program is being supported by Alcoa
Foundation, Beckman Coulter Foundation and Rockwell Collins.
"The multidisciplinary teamwork skills students have learned are
highly valued by employers," stated Matt Boutell, assistant
professor of computer science and software engineering. "The
robotics minor makes our high-achieving students even more
attractive to employers. It is a valuable asset for our
students.
"This was a very strong group of students," Boutell added.
"They did a great job working together in teams -- with students
from many different majors -- on their final projects in an
exercise that replicates a 'real-world' working experience."
In a mobile robotics course, students learned to use control
architectures to give robots an increasing level of autonomy and
intelligence. In the final project, teams created robots
that competed to rescue a robot that was lost in a
maze. Students were challenged to use a localization
algorithm to help their robots navigate the maze and find the lost
robot.
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Other senior-year projects featured mechanical engineering
graduates Nathan Jackson and Matthew Behling joining computer
engineering graduate Richard Chelminski to create a linear actuator
that could be implemented in humanoid robotics, imitating a
muscle. Meanwhile, mechanical engineering graduates Jasmine
Browne, Dominic Gates and Alexander Gumz teamed with Timothy Wentz,
a software engineering graduate, to create a graphical user
interface that works with Beckman Coulter's PA 300 Electrophoresis
Machine to decrease the time required to perform functions.
Finally, mechanical engineering graduates Zachary Hawkins and Derik
Sikes worked with computer engineering student Jonathon Nibert to
create an automated flight and travel system for stage productions
at Rose-Hulman's Hatfield Hall Theater. |
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Recipients of the first Robotics Pin, 2011
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Other 2010 graduates of the robotics program included Jinwoo
Baek, a mechanical engineering and electrical engineering double
major; Megan Chann, a mechanical engineering major; and Dane
Bennington, an electrical engineering major.
Additional funding is being sought to support more courses in
the curriculum, additional hardware and the possibility of
establishing an integrated robotics research laboratory. The
program is also expanding its community outreach through service
learning projects, with a team of students from the 2009-10 school
year designing a robotic arm display for the Terre Haute Children's
Museum.
Joining Berry and Boutell as faculty in the robotics minor
program are David Fisher, assistant professor of mechanical
engineering; Stephen Chenoweth, associate professor of computer
science and software engineering; and David Mutchler, professor of
computer science and software engineering.
Learn more about Rose-Hulman's minor program in robotics at http://www.rose-hulman.edu/class/csse/robotics.