Preface:

Participating teachers will be able to take back to their students some basic principles that illustrate what is a robot, what it can do, and how to put together a simple robot. Robots provide the teachers with a wonderful context for the study/learning of physics, chemistry, math, computer science, and engineering/technology (all the STEM disciplines). Also, elementary schools are increasingly involved with junior LEGO league robotics competitions. The seminar is therefore appropriate for elementary, middle, and high school teachers of science.
This seminar will focus on the principles and practice of robotics. It will be in the form of a series of weekly workshops (hands-on) in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) Electrical Engineering facilities. Experienced robotics instructors are welcome, but no previous knowledge of robotics or electronics is required. All of the exercises will be self-contained. Necessary hardware and equipment will be furnished.
The workshop participants will learn fundamental aspects of: systems and system dynamics; feedback and control strategies; sensors, actuators and signal conditioning; interfacing hardware to computers/controllers; and simple computer programming and coding.