IMPROVING THE UJI ONLINE ROBOTICS COURSE

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1 Recent Research Developments in Learning Technologies (00) 0 IMPROVING THE UJI ONLINE ROBOTICS COURSE P. J. Sanz *,, F. Pont, I. Alfaro, S. Troncho and R. Marín Universitat Jaume I, Avd. Sos Baynat s/n, 0 Castellón, Spain This paper contains a description of an adaptive tutorial that represents a contribution in the e-learning and e-teaching domains. The knowledge included is oriented towards an introductory course on robotics within the current Computer Science Engineering degree in our University Campus. Keywords adaptive tutorial; human-computer interaction. Introduction A few years ago we started developing a robotics tutorial with the aim to make easier the learning process within our undergraduate engineering courses, by using the web technology available []. Initially, the system had a very simple design, and only a list of links in a sequential order was showed to the user. The problem with this kind of layout was that any user could select any item independently of their background. Thus, for instance, if an advanced item was selected by anyone, like inverse kinematics, without any previous knowledge about kinematics in general or what is a robot, this user was discouraged to follow interacting with the tutorial. Currently, we have working in a few crucial directions, in order to improve the performance of this online tutorial. Firstly, we put the attention in the usability of the complete system, and different tests with control groups were established during the complete process design. At the same time, a new mechanism has been implemented that allows a better control in the learning process. The basic idea was to enable some specific test of concepts that prevent the user the aforementioned possibility to skip some items if an unsuccessful score is obtained. The underlying idea of this scores that the user must obtain in order to finalize the tutorial is double: on the one hand, to enable a different navigation way through the tutorial depending on the different user skills and, on the other hand, the potential use of these scores by a teacher in the evaluation process. Obviously, these last characteristics need a dynamic data base with knowledge about concepts, user identification, etc. In fact, we are improving now previous experience in this sense [], enabling the identification of the user when the tutorial is started, and let available a special password for the teacher in order to have access to the scores associated to their students. Finally, another advantage recently implemented is the possibility of select one of the five following languages: Spanish, English, German, French and Italian, covering the majority of people belonging to the European Union.. Previous work The first efforts to produce educational tools for robotics were undertaken by university teams [], [], that basically offered simulation tools and virtual scenarios. Meanwhile, some companies also developed robot educational packages, including simulations and programming capabilities [], [], running on inexpensive computers. On the other hand, since the early 0 s, our Multimedia Research Lab has devoted a lot of time to design different tutorials in computer science [], and particularly in the Robotics domain []. The initial Robotics Tutorial has been redesigned during this period (i.e. from until present) in order to improve the students learning process as much as possible by using the Web. * Corresponding author: sanzp@icc.uji.es, Phone: +

2 P. J. Sanz et al.: IMPROVING THE UJI ONLINE ROBOTICS COURSE 0. Overall system description. Global functionality A summary about the main specifications included in the current system can be observed in the following: Complete availability through the web by using any browser. After a user has logged in (i.e. an authorized password was identified), an initial test is running, and depending on the obtained scores the user is identified as one of two levels (i.e. beginner or advanced ). The contents are always presented in a structured way, taking into account the user level in order to graduate the suitable complexity. After the initial test, other of them must be successfully passed with the aim to get a continuous feedback between the user and the system. This mechanism enables a dynamic system adaptation, and promotes the user auto-learning. The usability was always a masterpiece to achieve. Two main modules were implemented in order to get the aforementioned specifications. For one hand, the graphic interface, implemented in html and php code, making use of Macromedia DreamWeaver MX release.0. And, on the other hand, a data base DB, implemented by using mysql, was necessary. The tables implemented to work with the graphic interface are the following: Authorized_users. This saves all authorized passwords. User. That compiles the relevant information for each user, as a numeric value, with the aim to identify any user in a unique way. Uset-test. This saves all the information generated in each session, maintaining a dynamic profile about any user, including dates or scores obtained in each test, etc. Test. This table saves the level associated with the different tests in correspondence with the course material. Test_questions. That compiles the knowledge associated with the questions included within each exam, as the explicit question and its successful response. Answer_question. This saves information about associated responses with each question. In summary, on this way, the current user interaction, always through the graphic interface, enables an adaptive response from the tutoring system, making use of this DB, which is a masterpiece on this system architecture.. The user interface A global understanding of the starting point with the system interaction can be appreciated in Figure, where the initial screen is shown. In first place, an identification screen appear before the tutoring system starts to run, after that, a language selection is available among five possibilities (i.e. Spanish, English, German, Italian and French). The next step is a preliminary test, which is used for the system to associate a level of expertise to the user (i.e. beginner or advanced ). Depending on this level the system lets available a different kind of information to the user. For instance, if a threshold is overpassed answering the test in a successfully way, the user will be labelled as advanced and more information, in quality and quantity, will be available than otherwise. That s it mean that depending on the user level the system offers a different index of contents. In addition, Figure shows also a current screen included in the introduction, with the aim to clarify basic concepts about robotics.

3 m-icte Fig. Starting the tutorial. After a user log in the system, the complete index is shown, but only some preliminary contents are available meanwhile an initial test is not passed. Other interesting contribution is related to practical exercises available on the system. For instance, one of the most difficult tasks that students have to understand in the Robotics classroom is associated with the construction of the kinematics model of a generic robot arm. And, that is so, mainly because it is necessary for them to have a very good understanding of the spatial configuration of a robot arm. Including, where the joints are located in the mechanical structure, and what kind of movements the mechanism is capable of, depending on the joint types (e.g. revolution, or prismatic). Thus, with the aim of making the understanding of this concept easier, the tutorial gives to students the chance of practice with different robot arms configurations in a supervised manner. Thus, in first place, the convenient theoretical concepts are introduced. Afterwards, some robot arm configurations are available, where the students can test their knowledge in an interactive way, trying to do the Reference System Assignment successfully. Meanwhile, the corresponding table of parameters associated is visualized, as can be appreciated in Figure, where a sequence of two screens is shown. Obviously, before to solve this kind of problems the user must be understand the underlying foundations, by using previous material as shown in Figure. After many years experience of teaching robotics we know how difficult it can be for students to learn how to construct a kinematics model when traditional teaching methods are used.

4 P. J. Sanz et al.: IMPROVING THE UJI ONLINE ROBOTICS COURSE 0 Fig. The interactive screen showing the Reference System Assignment and the table of Denavit- Hartenberg parameters associated. Fig. The foundations about Denavit-Hartenberg notation used to understand the construction of a kinematics model for an industrial robot manipulator.. Conclusions and future lines This paper represents only the last updates of a continuous work in progress, but obviously, there is not a definitive solution in a product so dynamic. The main reasons for that could be because the technology is progressing very fast, and in the mean time, because the strategies used for teaching are changing also. A direct consequence of the architecture proposed here is the necessity to optimize the implementation of new tests in a suitable manner, through a graphical interface. In fact, this is our current next goal, and now we are experimenting with this new facility. An example of this can be seen in the Figure.

5 m-icte Fig. Interactive screen implemented to create new tests in a very fast manner. Acknowledgements This work has been partially supported by Fundació Caixa-Castelló under P-B00- research project. References [] I Sanz P.J., Adell S. An undergraduate Robotics Course via Web. th IFIP World Computer Congress (Teleteaching ). Austrian Computer Society (book series of). Ed. by Gordon Davies, pp. -, Vienna, Austria. () [] Marín R, Sanz P.J., Coltell O., et al. Student-teacher communication directed to computer-based learning environments. Displays, Elsevier Science. Sp. Issue on Displays for Multimedia () pp. -. () [] Parkin, R.E.. An Interactive Robotic Simulation Package. Simulation, vol., no.,, -. () [] Machado J. T. and Galhano A.M.. WinRob: An Educational Program for Robotic", IEEE-International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education, Manchester, UK, vol., no., pg. -, Jan.. () [] WorkSpace. Manual, Robot Simulations, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England,. () [] SYMORO. Software Package of Symbolic MOdelling of Robots. Rapid Data Ltd. ()...