It summarizes student evaluation forms given at the end of the semester. The robotics module came near the end of the semester. Students genuinely enjoyed working with the robots. They reported an improvement to their programming skills through the project. Groups of four-five students are too large for this kind of project to be most effective.
Some students end up on the sidelines.
AI techniques are introduced within the context of creating intelligent agents, and students perform homework and individual projects on the robot platforms, as well as environments for software agents. This approach to the AI course was tried out with a small set of Lego robots in Fall 1998. The syllabus for the AI course demonstrates an emphasis on agents. Topics and techniques are introduced in the context of robotic or software agent issues, and are evaluated in terms of the abilities of the agents who use them. In Fall 1998, a student studied techniques for planning and executing routes represented as graphs, where the route itself was laid out on floor of the robot's pen.