Meeting Abstract
P2.124 Jan. 5 Using Bio-inspired Robots as Physical Models in the Teaching Laboratory WEINGARTEN, J*; KOMSUOGLU, H; KUBOW, T; WEHNER, M; JENNINGS, P; ZVARIK, N; KODITSCHEK, D; FULL, R.J>; University of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania; Berkeley; Berkeley; Berkeley; Berkeley; University of Pennsylvania; Berkeley joeldw@seas.upenn.edu
We have developed a bio-inspired robot named ZinGO that can be used in both the teaching and research laboratory. ZinGO is a programmable, hexapedal robot patterned after the robot, RHex, that can demonstrate the dynamics discovered in legged animals. ZinGO can serve as a physical model to reveal critical parameters missing from mathematical models, because like an animal the robot must confront the real environment. In a new, introductory undergraduate engineering course at the University of Pennsylvania, research-based teaching laboratories that complement a novel freshman introduction to Electrical and Systems Engineering have been developed and implemented with open-ended problems that include programming the robot to traverse rough terrain autonomously using only accelerometers, designing new legs to handle obstacles and creating a novel robot dance involving two thousand leg movements that demands the development of a hierarchical controller integrated with the leg and body dynamics. To demonstrate a laboratory exercise, we will show a novel dance routine that is a collaboration among engineers, biologists and professional choreographers. In collaboration, we are presently designing a complementary research-based course at the University of California at Berkeley in the Department of Integrative Biology as a critical part of a new center � CIBER � the Center for Interdisciplinary Bio-inspiration in Education and Research. We aim to eliminate the traditional (but misconceived) gaps between research and teaching. It is time for a synergy where research-based teaching leads to better learning and collaborative, interdisciplinary teaching leads to better research. Funded by NSF FIBR grant.
