LMICSE: Lego Mindstorms in Computer Science Education

Publications

• Walking the Grid: Robotics in CS 2
  • Author: Myles McNally
  • Citation: Proceeding of the Eighth Australasian Computing Education Conference, Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology, 52, 2006.
  • Abstract: This paper describes the use of inexpensive robotics platforms to create engaging student projects for a second course in computer programming. These projects employ the stack and queue data structures, reinforce basic concepts such as two dimensional arrays, and are situated in the context of modern, object-oriented programming. Advanced concepts from autonomous mobile robotics are introduced in a gentle manner, including occupancy grids, path planning, and sensor fusion. The fundamentals of depth and breadth first search are used in the solutions to the various projects described.
• LEGO MindStorms: Not Just for K-12 Anymore
  • Author: Frank Klassner and Scott Anderson
  • Citation: IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, 10(2), 2003
  • Abstract: We describe the possibility of using the Lego Mindstorms robots to support the ACM Computing Curriculum 2001, using them in lab exercises and projects for classes from beginning courses in programming to advanced courses in operating systems, compilers, networks and artificial intelligence. We first describe the limitations of the robots, both hardware and software, and some third-party programming environments that overcome some of these limitations. Finally, we describe our own work on a package of tools called MTM that eliminates most of the remaining limitations. MTM includes enhanced firmware that allows point-to-point communication and the reading of the machine state, a C++ API for programming the robots, and packages, in both Common Lisp and Java, for programming the robots and for remotely controlling them.
• A Case Study of LEGO Mindstorms Suitability for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Courses at the College Level
  • Author: Frank Klassner
  • Citation: Proceedings of the 33rd SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education: SIGCSE '02, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 34(1), 2002
  • Abstract: This paper examines LEGO Mindstorms suitability as a hardware platform for integrating robotics into an Artificial Intelligence course organized around the agent paradigm popularized by Russell and Norvig. This evaluation discusses how kits and projects based on Mindstorms supported students' exploration of the issues behind the design of agents from three classes in Russell and Norvig's intelligent agent taxonomy. The paper's investigation also examines several popularly-perceived limitations of the Mindstorms package for college-level robotics projects and shows that most of these "limitations" are not serious impediments to Mindstorms' use, while certain other of these "limitations" do indeed present challenges to the platform's use.