Institute for Personal Robots in Education (IPRE) was initiated by a $1 million grant from Microsoft Research to

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

and the Georgia Institute of Technology and announced in July 2006. IPRE is designing introductory

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

curricula centered on a

Personal Robot A personal robot is one whose human interface and design make it useful for individuals. This is by contrast to industrial robots which are generally configured and operated by robotics specialists. A personal robot is one that enables an individ ...

. Their vision is that each student will purchase a small, inexpensive robot at the bookstore which they will use throughout their classes in exploring computer science. The hope is that the robot will cost about as much as a textbook. IPRE will develop the hardware, software, and curricular materials for these courses. The software being developed for introductory computer science courses is called Myro, short for My Robot, and is based in part on Pyro from Python Robotics. Myro is an interface to communicate with robots. It is designed to be used through a number of computer languages, include

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

Ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called ...

, and Scheme. The robot currently being used is the Scribbler from Parallax, Inc. (company) augmented with a small computer board, called the Fluke. The Fluke contains

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

and a camera. This allows any robot that has a serial interface to be controlled through the low-cost Fluke.

History

* Announced in July 2006 * First courses taught at

and Georgia Institute of Technology in Spring 2007

External links

Institute for Personal Robots in Education

- details on the Fluke board Computer science education Microsoft initiatives Robotics organizations Bryn Mawr College Organizations established in 2006 2006 in robotics {{Robo-stub

History

See also

External links