On the computer screen, the RoboScience Simulator program looks a bit like a rudimentary video game, with a simple outline of a "robot" moving through various obstacles. The RoboScience Simulator will be an open source simulation program that universities can use without cost, including an online portal, free textbooks and basic robotics software. "My goal was to create something more affordable," he says. The least costly program McGough found on the market priced at $3,000 per student. And while there are simulator packages on the market for post high school students, they tend to be excessively expensive. McGough says the K-12 level of robotics programming already has adequate curriculum available to schools. He experimented with a Roomba Robot Vacuum, but the maintenance costs quickly added up.Įventually, McGough conceived the RoboScience Simulator, which became a senior design project for a group of his computer science Mines seniors during the 2017-2018 academic year.
He quickly realized there was little available. McGough began looking for curriculum and/or software to teach his students robot programming seven years ago. An incorrectly programmed robot might drive off a table top or crash into a wall, requiring hours of hands-on repair work, McGough says. Students learning to program autonomous robots often spend more time repairing them after they are damaged as a result of coding mistakes than they do learning to actually program.
Jeffrey McGough, professor of mathematics and computer science at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.
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