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A Beginner-Level MOOC on ROS Robotics Leveraging a Remote Web Lab for Programming Physical Robots

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Robotics in Education (RiE 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 747))

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Abstract

With an increased demand for roboticists in the labor market, there is a growing interest in acquiring skills in ROS (Robot Operating System), one of the more popular robotics software development platforms. Most freely available resources for learning ROS rely on simulation or assume that people have a robotics platform at their disposal. In this study we extended professional robotics to self-guided learning using physical hardware by creating a massive open online course (MOOC) for learning ROS. Course participants could log into a web lab and remotely control robots located in a university classroom without the need to install anything locally on their computers. During the 7-week course participants of varying ages and backgrounds learned about the necessary skills to use ROS on a Linux machine through receiving an authentic ROS developing experience. The participants’ weekly performance results and answers to a feedback questionnaire were subsequently analysed. The first iteration of this course was completed by 49 participants, with the biggest reason for dropping the course being lack of time. The course demonstrated the possibility of using a remote web lab to teach ROS. This paper summarizes our lessons learned.

Supported by Education and Youth Board of Estonia, European Social Fund via IT Academy programme, Estonian Centre of Excellence in IT (EXCITE) funded by the European Regional Development Fund, and AI & Robotics Estonia co-funded by the EU and Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications in Estonia.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://robots.ros.org.

  2. 2.

    https://youtu.be/CCnGBWoKIYc.

  3. 3.

    https://sisu.ut.ee/rosak.

  4. 4.

    https://github.com/unitartu-remrob/remrob-server.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Sandra Schumann, Dāvis Krūmiņš, Veiko Vunder, Alvo Aabloo, Leo A. Siiman & Karl Kruusamäe

Authors
  1. Sandra Schumann
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  2. Dāvis Krūmiņš
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  3. Veiko Vunder
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  4. Alvo Aabloo
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  5. Leo A. Siiman
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  6. Karl Kruusamäe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sandra Schumann .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Slovak University of Technology (STU), Bratislava, Slovakia

    Richard Balogh

  2. Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    David Obdržálek

  3. University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Eftychios Christoforou

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Schumann, S., Krūmiņš, D., Vunder, V., Aabloo, A., Siiman, L.A., Kruusamäe, K. (2023). A Beginner-Level MOOC on ROS Robotics Leveraging a Remote Web Lab for Programming Physical Robots. In: Balogh, R., Obdržálek, D., Christoforou, E. (eds) Robotics in Education. RiE 2023. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 747. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38454-7_24

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