Robots to boost enrolment

Looking to boost enrolment in introductory computer science classes, Microsoft Corp is working with Bryn Mawr College and Georgia Tech on developing new ways to bring robotics technology into the classroom.

The software company is creating the Institute for Personal Robots in Education, which will be based mainly at the College of Computing at Georgia Tech.

Douglas Blank, a computer science professor at Bryn Mawr, said the goal is to start incorporating the robots in introductory courses at the suburban Philadelphia college next spring. Georgia Tech hopes to start during that term as well.

The idea behind the programme, Blank said, is to make computer science more hands-on and practical, rather than simply about debugging programmes. A special computer programme will let students control their robots via computers. Students will be taught how to search a maze, follow a line, use sensors to avoid objects and even play tag.

"What we want to do is make that very concrete," Blank said. "If the robot isn't behaving correctly, then you have to figure out why."

Plans call for Microsoft to devote $1 million (38 million baht) to the project over the next three years, with the two schools chipping in an additional $1 million combined. AP