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What is the project about?

This project starts up a new initiative that will actively involve undergraduate students in the presentation of Lincoln university to open day visitors. Students shall produce demonstrations of mobile robots as a means to foster engagement with technology and nurture interest in research. These days, robots are indeed a popular topic and have a proven potential as attractions (not only recently underpinned by the overwhelming success of the ?Robotville? exhibition in the London Science Museum). This new project sets out to get undergraduate students mainly studying computing programmes to develop a robotic demonstrator based on research platforms available at the Centre for Vision and Robotics Research and present such a platform to the visiting public. With this project, the foundation shall be laid for such an initiative and the required basic technologies and information materials shall be produced. Its outcomes will enable future students to work with and enhance robot technology and present it to others.

Who is working on the project?

Supervisors:
Dr Marc Hanheide
Dr Grzegorz Cielniak
Dr Nicola Bellotto

Students:
Jonathan Woodliffe
Peter Anderson
Michael Knights

Why are we undertaking the project?

This project serves two key objectives:

First, it gives students an opportunity to learn and present state-of-the-art robot technology to their fellows and to enhance their presentation skills; and second, the university will benefit from this initiative through the visible commitment, passion, and engagement of the student presenting technology which is expected to have a positive impact on recruiting.

The Robots@OD project is at the heart of the ?student as producer? initiative. The project will endow participating students with the required skills and knowledge to (i) produce a robotic demonstrator from existing building blocks and (ii) to present their product in an inspiring and engaging way.

What will the project achieve?

The project intends to develop the foundations for a long-term initiative. The intended outcomes of this project include:

- A small-scale robotics software toolkit suitable for demonstrations based on the existing technology (e.g. the Robotic Operating System);
- A prototype robot demonstrator featuring a mobile robot suitable for presentation to the public by the students;
publicity materials in form of leaflets and YouTube videos; and
an on-line infrastructure consisting of a Wiki system and software repository to aid sustainability of the initiative.

When is the project taking place?

Summer 2012