IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2017 - 160

ating their first class this year, and
two have privately indicated that they
are planning to seek accreditation in
4 2
5
the near future. Beyond this require5
7
ment, the ABET general criteria pose
26
24
no unique challenges to robotics pro8
grams, because they are cross disciplinary and avoid being prescriptive.
One consideration for new pro37
grams
is the development of unique
26
26
30
program educational objectives (PEOs),
i.e., statements that describe what graduates are expected to attain several
years after graduation, as required by
Mechanical Engineering
Robotics Engineering
ABET Criterion 2. PEOs should be
Electrical Engineering
Mechatronics
drafted and reviewed periodically in
close consultation with the program's
Computer Science
Other
constituencies, which may typically
include representatives from local
Figure 1. The faculty and student affiliations in introductory robotics courses.
industries where graduates might be
expected to find employment. However, in our survey, when asked if their
accredited through the Engineering Technology Accredita- courses "prepare students for work in the robotics industry,"
tion commission; however, the program's website indicates only 60.3% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed.
no robotics course requirements. Because ABET does
not have robotics criteria, both programs applied through Introductory Robotics Courses
the general criteria, rather than through, say, electrical or The second section of the survey asked instructors about the
mechanical engineering.
introductory course in robotics at their institution. These
Certainly, this is not yet close to the U.S. Robotics courses were typically offered to some mixture of advanced
Roadmap 2028 goal of having ten programs in existence. undergraduate and first-year graduate students.
However, one must consider that a program can only
seek ABET accreditation after it has produced its first Disciplinary Affiliations and Backgrounds
crop of graduates. Many of the programs listed are gradu- Despite the apparent rise of robotics degree programs,
most robotics courses (89%) are still offered by faculty
from more traditional academic departments, with the
most dominant being computer science (36.9%) followed
Table 1. Perceived deficiencies in student
by mechanical engineering (26.2%) and electrical engipreparation.
neering (26.2%).
In the aggregate, the student population mirrors this
Computer Electrical
Mechanical
diversity,
as shown in Figure 1, yet there is a great mix of stuTopic
Science
Engineering Engineering
dent backgrounds within each class. In fact, only 11 faculty
Kinematics
37%
56%
27%
members indicated that at least 90% of the students in their
and dynamics
class were enrolled in a single academic major. In contrast, it
Linear algebra
37%
44%
27%
would seem that, very often, a mechanical engineering professor, e.g., is teaching robotics to a class consisting of 60%
Computer
21%
56%
27%
programming
mechanical engineering students along with 20% studying
electrical engineering, 10% physics, and 10% computer sciProbability
32%
38%
20%
and statistics
ence. In fact, when asked "What is the biggest challenge in
robotics education?," the most commonly cited (47%) issue
Electronics
26%
6%
20%
was teaching students with such a wide range of academic
Elementary
5%
6%
7%
backgrounds, skill sets, and interests.
algebra
Table 1 shows the responses to the question "In which
Calculus
5%
6%
13%
areas do you find the academic preparation of your stuResponses to the question, "In which areas do you find the academic
dents to be deficient?" These issues may well relate to
preparation of your students to be deficient?" categorized by home
the challenges of teaching to an audience with diverse
department of instructor.
backgrounds, as previously mentioned. For example,
Faculty

160

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SEPTEMBER 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2017