Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!sgiblab!uhog.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!fredm
From: fredm@media.mit.edu (Fred G Martin)
Subject: "Circuits to Control:  Learning Engineering by Designing LEGO Robots"
Message-ID: <1994Apr30.042856.2967@news.media.mit.edu>
Sender: news@news.media.mit.edu (USENET News System)
Organization: MIT Media Laboratory
Date: Sat, 30 Apr 1994 04:28:56 GMT
Lines: 162

Greetings all,

My PhD dissertation by the above title is now available from the Media
Lab FTP site cherupakha.media.mit.edu (18.85.0.47).  I am sorry that I
didn't get a chance to distribute a draft version to you all, but I
basically ran out of time getting it in shape.  I still welcome your
comments and even bug reports (I still can fix them until end of May).
 
Please see enclosed README file for printing notes.  Sorry for the
wide distribution of this announcement but the "robot-board" mailing
list seems to be down and I'm so excited to be done I wanted to let
interested people know.
 
Best,
Fred Martin


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This file:              pub/el-publications/Theses/Martin/README
Last updated:		Fri Apr 29 18:13:04 1994
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This directory contains Fred G. Martin's PhD dissertation, entitled
"Circuits to Control:  Learning Engineering by Designing LEGO Robots."
Please see the abstract at the end of this message.

The directory contains eight PostScript files, to be printed in the
following order:

filename	  page range	brief description
--------	  ----------	----------------------------
toc.PS.Z	  1 to 24	title page, acknowledgments, table of contents
background.PS.Z	  25 to 52	Background chapter
introduction.PS.Z 53 to 68	Introduction chapter
technology.PS.Z	  69 to 124	Technology for Learning chapter
systems.PS.Z	  125 to 158	Ideal and Real Systems chapter
design.PS.Z	  159 to 182	Design Styles chapter
conclusion.PS.Z	  183 to 198	Conclusion and Future Directions chapter
appendices.PS.Z	  199 to 263	appendices and references

Some important printing/distribution notes:

0.  Make sure you transfer the files using binary mode and uncompress
before printing.  On Unix systems, you can use the command "zcat
<file.PS.Z> | lpr -P<your-printer>" to decompress on the fly.

1.  This is a big print job.  The files uncompress to about 20
megabytes; there are a fair number of photographic figures which take
up the disk space and print time.

2.  Figure at least an hour to print assuming reasonably fast
printers.  On older PostScript models, figure a few hours total as
some PS figures will take up to 15 minutes per page to print.  

3.  The files will print on both sides of the page if your printer has
duplex capability.  Non-duplex printers should not be affected.

4.  For the time being, all pages will say "DRAFT COPY -- DO NOT
DISTRIBUTE" on the top of the page.  This will be removed when I get
formal notification from MIT Libraries that it's okay to distribute.

5.  COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!!  Please send me your thoughts and ideas of
any nature after reading this thesis.  I will gladly accept comments
on the level of grammatical/spelling bugs (there's still time for me
to fix the library version till the end of May) to bigger issues (that
will have to wait for the book version :-)!

6.  Around June 1994, printed and bound versions will be available
from our publications office for a modest reproduction/mailing
charge.



Best,
Fred Martin
fredm@media.mit.edu


 CIRCUITS TO CONTROL:  LEARNING ENGINEERING BY DESIGNING LEGO ROBOTS

			  by Fred G. Martin

	    (C) 1994 Massachusetts Institute of Technology


			       Abstract

The nature of an undergraduate degree in engineering has undergone
significant change since the end of the second World War.  There is
more theoretical content and less hands-on project work, reflecting
both rapid advances in the state of scientific theory and educators'
ideas about what engineering students need to know.

Since the 1960's, engineering educators have been aware of problems
with this new curriculum: students graduate with the ability to
analyze clearly presented problems, but little or no background in
doing design, which is the central work of a practicing engineer.  In
the past, employers accepted that design skills---including the
ability to transform underspecified and messy design situations into
actual problems to be solved---would be learned on the job, but this
has become increasingly less acceptable in today's global economy.

The focus of this thesis is an analysis of the situation through the
development and evaluation of a model class experience for
undergraduate engineering students that addresses the deficiencies in
the traditional education.  The model course has been developed with
and tested on MIT undergraduate students over the past four years.  It
consists of a month-long intensive design workshop in which students
are responsible for the conception, design, implementation, debugging,
and competitive demonstration of an autonomous robotic device.

The core work is the task of developing and testing this design-rich
learning environment with the goal of discovering the characteristics
of the setting which most powerfully encourages students' learning.
The methodology employed is the implementation of a ``living
laboratory'' in which a series of design environments (i.e., workshop
design classes) are successively developed, tested, and evaluated.
The evaluation is based on a variety of observational tools, including
interaction with students during the progress of their projects,
student written reports and journals, and analysis of the actual
products of the students' work---robotic hardware and software
systems.  The purpose of the evaluation is to understand the issues
that the students face in accomplishing their design task, in order to
ascertain what and how they are learning, and to improve the materials
and the classroom environment in the future.

The outcome of this work is several-fold.  Most importantly, it is a
re-evaluation and further understanding of the role of design work in
the undergraduate engineering degree program, with a focus on specific
ways to build empowering experiences into the undergraduate
curriculum.  Secondly, it reveals that students have pre-existing
conceptions of systems and control that make it difficult for them to
deal with sensor noise and other erratic phenomena in their robot
designs.  Thirdly, it develops a set of technological tools for
learning---a kit optimized for students to work on robotic design
projects.  While the particulars of this technology may become
outdated in a few years, the more important nature of its interactive
qualities and theory behind its design will not.


Doctoral Committee

Edith Ackermann
Thesis Supervisor
Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Pattie Maes
Thesis Reader
Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Seymour Papert
Thesis Reader
LEGO Professor of Learning Research
Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Donald Sch\"{o}n
Thesis Reader
Ford Professor Emeritus and Senior Lecturer
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
