Dr. Bindschadler and Dr. Chung introduced MCS programs to prospective students and their parents during the College of Arts and Sciences Campus Visit Day program on Saturday, November 9th.
On Friday, November 8, Dr. Chung gave a talk at University of Michigan - Dearborn. The title of the talk was "Evolutionary Robotics" and "Robotics and Education". You may download his PowerPoint sildes from here. Abstract of his talk as follows: Autonomous robotics systems encompass the rich nature of integrated systems that includes mechanical, electrical, and computational components. The availability of smaller and cheaper hardware components have helped make possible a new dimension in the operational autonomy. A key challenge in mobile robotics is designing intelligent and adaptable software components that allow robots to function autonomously in unstructured, dynamic, partially observable, and uncertain environments. Interestingly, nature offers a paradigm to this problem by demonstrating the myriad of autonomous life forms that have survived around us. This talk will introduce the concept of "Evolutionary Robotics" as a promising new robot designing technique to develop adaptive and robust robots. Also practical methods to train robots are discussed when artificial neural networks are employed. Another major topic in this talk is about robotics and education. Robotics has been used as a carrot to attract students to the science and engineering career and there have been various autonomous robot competitions at school levels from grade 5 to college level. Research oriented competitions are also organized to promote the development of robotics technologies. As a result, competitions can provide many benefits to students, academia, industry, and society at large. Current status and future directions regarding robot competitions for education and research will be discussed and suggested.
Wei-Wen Chang, MSCS 2001, was an invited speaker for an Intelligent Systems class on Oct. 22, 2002. He explained
his EC method used in winning the 2D and 3D design optimization competitions in CEC 2001 and WCCI 2002. Dr. Chung
awarded an "Award of Exellence" plaque to him.
On Oct. 23, Dr. Chung was an invited speaker for the IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section Fall 2002 Meeting. His title of the presentation was
"Autonomous Robotics - A Wonderful Motivator in AI research and Science & Engineering Education". For more details,
please check out IEEE site at
ewh.ieee.org/r4/se_michigan/events/fall2002meeting/main.php
On Sat. Oct. 19, we had a Robofest Informational Meeting and Appreciation Luncheon.
Around 55 people came to the meeting. Among them, 21 were current coaches or rookie coaches.
The highlight of the meeting was to have an official presentation of the Robofest 2002 digital videotape,
which was shot and edited by Earhart and Western High School students in Detroit.
Three technology teachers helped them to produce an almost professional movie, using computers.
I think this is an excellent showcase to exhibit the result of technology education together with LTU and
local schools. Dr. Bindshadler presented plaques of appreciation to Dr. Williams, Principal of Earhart School,
as well as three teachers and 9 students. Also, He presented Mentorship award certificates to Robofest 2002 coaches.
Coaches completed survey questionnaires, which will be used to gather data to improve Robofest
(I am sending the analysis of the data soon in a separate email).
All the coaches were given a copy of the videotape and a summer camp video file on a CD at the end of the meeting.
After the informational meeting in S321, we had a coach appreciation luncheon in the faculty dining room.
40 people, including Earhart students who were involved in the video production, were invited to the luncheon.
Coaches had time to get to know each other. We had wonderful moments to discuss a lot of issues involved in tech education
through autonomous robotics. Even when the luncheon was over, many teachers were having a lot of conversations until
2:00pm!
I would like to thank Dr. Bindshadler who gave opening remarks and awarded plaques and certifications.
Also the following students helped a lot to prepare the meeting: Rita Chen, Jerry Shao, David Chamulak,
and Andrey Shvartsman. Brent Bishop, Cafeteria, prepared a wonderful lunch and gave us extra care to give our
guests very good impressions. Walter Bizon and Norman Plant spent a lot of time to duplicate 55 VHS tapes from
the S-VHS master tape and prepared the microphone for the luncheon. Campus facilities did an excellent job to setup the
dining room. Also, La Tachia Johnson's help was always great.
You may find 51 pictures taken on that day
here. (Reported by ChanJin Chung)
LTU Assessment Symposium: Dr. Bindschadler, Chair of MCS Department, talked about "Direct and Indirect Measures" during the Assessment Symposium on Friday Sep. 20.
Annual Service Awards on Sep. 10, 2002: Associate Dean Glen Baur - 20 years, Prof. James Nanny - 35 years. Congratulations.
Need a tutor? Please make an appointment with a tutor at AAC using myTutoring. This system has been developed by an MCS student and faculty member.
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