Student Robotics: A key to ingenuity and innovation

ECS Student Robotics team members Rob Spanton and Chris Cross were among presenters showcasing their work to UK academics at a workshop discussing ‘Robotics in the Curriculum’.

According to Dr Su White, who organized the workshop, their enthusiasm and the success of their project was evidence of the many potential gains which students can experience when teaching with a robotics theme is included in the undergraduate curriculum. The Student Robotics challenge runs competitive activities in local sixth forms colleges and school. 'Robotics in the Curriculum' was convened by Su White of the ECS Learning Societies Lab in conjunction with the Higher Education Academy subject centres for Engineering and Information and Computer Science. Curriculum innovations from Southampton were showcased alongside contributions from engineering and computing colleagues from across the UK.

Student Robotics, which has won sponsorship from Motorola, demonstrates that there are accessible and low costs ways in which learning about engineering and electronics can integrate the theory with the practical and at the same time be challenging and enjoyable.

'Robotics is an important part of the undergraduate curriculum in Southampton and demonstrates practical and exciting applications of computer science and electronics,' said Dr White. 'Student Robotics is a voluntary activity which involves students drawn from across our Faculty. Students also have options to study robotics formally at various levels of their degree course. We are particularly proud of the way in which our research and our teaching mutually benefit in this subject area. Rob Stanton has now progressed to PhD studies, and his supervisor Dr Klaus-Peter Zauner can clearly identify benefits which have resulted from the challenges our undergraduates have undertaken.'