Application of an Educational Strategy Based on a Soccer Robotic Platform Katherin P´ erez, Eyberth Rojas, Heyson B´ aez Saith Rodr´ ıguez, Jorge L´ opez, Carlos Quintero Universidad Santo Tom´ as Colombia Juan Manuel Calder´ on BioRobotics Laboratory University of South Florida Tampa, FL, USA Abstract—In this paper we describe the design and imple- mentation of an educational methodology based on a robotic platform used for the small size league (SSL) challenge of the RoboCup initiative. The methodology is based on three main aspects of the learning process, namely classical conditioning, reinforcement learning and cognitive learning. This is achieved through the combination of robotic concepts applied to the soccer problem; a highly interesting topic to the students, together with skill oriented modules. We show practical results achieved after applying this methodology in specific courses in an undergraduate electrical engineering program. Our initial results demonstrate that it is possible to attain significantly better results in terms of learnt concepts and motivation when using our robotic soccer based strategy. I. I NTRODUCTION Robotics is nowadays considered as a high impact research topic in academia due to the large amount of projects carried out all around the globe aiming at solving important industrial and social needs. For this reason, it has become of paramount importance not only for the further development of technology but also for a wide variety of aspects in human life, especially in teaching and learning processes. In this field, robotics has become a key aspect for new educational methodologies that include laboratory courses and robotic challenges that encourage the learning of numerous concepts in science and engineering [1]. Under this scenario we propose a new methodology that builds up from a previous work from [2] that aimed at showing the first prototype of a robotic football player specifically designed for educational purposes. This platform has shown to be a suitable tool not only for general entertaining but also for research and education in engineering and science. This paper focuses on the development of the specific educational subjects covered by the proposed methodology as well as its impact on the students from an electronic engineering program. This process is assessed by showing quantitative measures on the competencies and disciplines developed by the students when exposed to such methodology. The results shown throughout the paper are the result of performing experiments and collecting data from a typical academic term. The main strengths of the proposed methodology can be summarize as follows: the students achieve a hardware software integrated solution for the proposed challenges, the development and management of distributed systems, coop- erative and coordinated systems and the manipulation of the robotic platform among multiple work environments. This paper is organized as follows: Section II shows works performed by others related to the use of robots for educational purposes, Section III shows a detailed explanation of the development process followed to conceive the educational robotic platform. Afterwards we show the areas of knowledge and developed modules of the proposed methodology and finally Section IV shows quantitative results of applying such methodology to students during a four-month period. II. RELATED WORK In this section we briefly show the work carried out by others related to the development of educational robotic plat- forms and methodologies. We use this to assess and compare the methodology proposed and applied during the development phase of our methodology. In [3], the authors proposed a methodology based on learning stages where undergraduate students use robots in a mixed reality environment to improve their own skills. The virtual environment allow them to be highly flexible in terms of the challenges that can be proposed. However, their approach is highly oriented to sophisticated control algorithms in the field of robotics. In [4], the authors proposed the design of a course for teaching science and technology topics for secondary educa- tion students. Although our methodology has been designed for an undergraduate level, their methodology and ours share some specific characteristics such as the fact that both promote the use of robotics to teach and reinforce subjects other than robotics. Also, their methodology relies on the cooperation of teachers and students to solve practical problems in what they call workshops. Similar to our work, in [5] the authors proposed Robotic Autonomy, a seven week course taught at the Carnegie Mellon West campus, located within NASA/Ames research Center. Although this is also a high school student initiative, their approach also strives at teaching lessons beyond the scope of robotics. In [6] we appreciate that through the use of robotics as educational tool, it is possible to develop in the students cognitive structural developments. This is achieved by designing exercises to make the students plan, build and program their own robots. Other research efforts aligned with