2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Experiential Learning with Mobile Robots: Bridging Physical and Virtual Environments

Presented at Learning through Instrumentation: Experiences and Applications

This paper presents an ongoing experiential learning and research project initiated last summer (2023), aimed at fostering engineering education through the collaboration of undergraduate students at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)and summer exchange students from neighboring universities in Maryland , with high school students who participated in a remote setting. The project employed educational mobile robotic platforms, namely the LIMO, GoPiGo3, as well as, Sphero RVR and Bolt available at the UMES robotics lab. The emphasis was on the integration of a variety of sensors with the robotic platforms in a variety of scenarios including navigational challenges that may be encountered by lunar and Martian rovers.
Undergraduate students worked directly with the physical robots, gaining valuable hands-on experience. They were also introduced to state-of-the-art open-source simulation software platforms. The high school students engaged remotely with the undergraduate students while utilizing the same simulation platforms. Preliminary efforts were initiated in the summer to engage the participants with the Linux operating system to utilize the Robot Operating System (ROS) and Gazebo, a powerful 3D dynamic simulator. The use of Gazebo allowed for the creation of diverse virtual environments, simulating surfaces like earth soil and lunar regolith, similar to those encountered by robots in real-world scenarios. The paper will highlight the application of Gazebo in the realm of space exploration, drawing inspiration from NASA's utilization of Gazebo to simulate lunar and Martian environments for robotics-related simulation studies. The hybrid approach adopted effectively merged real and virtual learning experiences overcoming constraints related to transportation and other logistics, enabling a framework for contemporary education that provided valuable insights towards the integration of physical and virtual learning environments for aspiring roboticists.
Project leaders have engaged engineering and computer science students in the ongoing fall semester to continue with the efforts. This paper is largely based on the accomplishments of the students in the past summer and ongoing fall semester.

Authors

Dr. Abhijit Nagchaudhuri University of Maryland, Eastern Shore [biography]

Dr. Abhijit Nagchaudhuri is currently a tenured professor in the Department of Engineering and Aviation Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore(UMES). Dr. Nagchaudhuri received his baccalaureate degree from Jadavpur University (India) with honors in mechanical engineering in 1983. Thereafter, he worked in a multinational industry for a little over three years before joining Tulane University as a graduate student in the fall of 1987. He received a master’s degree from Tulane University in 1989 and a doctoral degree from Duke University in 1992. He is a member of the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and, has also been involved with the American Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). He is actively involved in teaching and research in the fields of (i) robotics and mechatronics, (ii) remote sensing and precision agriculture, and,(iii) biofuels and renewable energy. He has been involved with several extramurally funded projects as PI or Co-PI to support outreach, education, and research activities from various state, federal, and private agencies; served in leadership roles in professional societies; and has received several awards and certificates from his home institution as well as professional societies. He has published more than 90 refereed articles in journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. He has been involved with several divisions of ASEE including the Minorities in Engineering Division (MIND), and served as the division chair of the Energy Conversion, Conservation, and Nuclear Engineering Division (ECCNED) in 2016. He is a member of the technical committee of IEEE/ASME Mechatronics and Embedded Systems Application(MESA) and has served as the division chair in 2022. He serves as a program committee member of the Maryland Space Grant Consortium.
Jackson Mitchell Cuppett University of Maryland, Eastern Shore
Prof. Dave Akin University of Maryland, College Park
Urjit Korok Chakraborty James M. Bennett High School [biography]

I am a junior at James M. Bennett High and planning to pursue computer science in college.
Mr. Lance C. Ward University of Maryland, Eastern Shore [biography]

Lance Ward is an undergraduate student researcher at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore currently working on a bachelor's degree in engineering with a concentration in computer engineering.
Parker Wilson University of Maryland, Eastern Shore
Mason Alexander Morgan
Rahul Vishnoi University of Maryland, College Park
Romeo Gabriel Perlstein University of Maryland, College Park

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