Recent advancements in robotics, including applications like self-driving cars, unmanned systems, and medical robots, have had a significant impact on the job market. On one hand, big robotics companies offer training programs based on the job requirements. However, these training programs may not be as beneficial as general robotics programs offered by universities or community colleges. On the other hand, community colleges and universities face challenges with the required resources, especially qualified instructors, to offer students advanced robotics education. Furthermore, the diverse backgrounds of undergraduate students present additional challenges. Some students bring extensive industry experience, while others are newcomers to the field. To address these challenges, we propose a student-centered personalized learning framework for robotics. This framework allows a general instructor to teach undergraduate-level robotics courses by breaking down course topics into smaller components with well-defined topic dependencies, structured as a graph. This modular approach enables students to choose their learning path, catering to their unique preferences and pace. Moreover, our framework's flexibility allows for easy customization of teaching materials to meet the specific needs of host institutions. In addition to teaching materials, a frequently-asked-questions document would be prepared for a general instructor. If students' robotics questions cannot be answered by the instructor, the answers to these questions may be included in this document. For questions not covered in this document, we can gather and address them through collaboration with the robotics community and course content creators. Our user study results demonstrate the promise of this method in delivering undergraduate-level robotics education tailored to individual learning outcomes and preferences.
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Towards a haptic feedback framework for multi-DOF robotic laparoscopic surgery platforms
The use of robotics for laparoscopic surgery has been an established field for over a decade. However, with the influx of advanced tools and algorithms for general purpose robotics, there is a need to incorporate these advancements into medical robotics technology. The daVinci Research Kit and its software framework provides a step towards these advancements. This paper presents the development of new tools and utilization of previously developed tools used for general purpose robotics, and their tailored use in medical robotics. Additionally, a method for computing haptic forces for tele-operated surgical robots is presented. The technique utilizes elastic, Spherical Proxy Regions (SPR) to readily compute directional interaction forces and manipulate them to create a dynamic behavior at the surgeon/user's manipulator.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1637759
- PAR ID:
- 10027841
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS)
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1113 - 1118
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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