Publications related to Teachers’ Perspective on Fostering Computational Thinking Through Educational Robotics

Memento Mori: Reliable robustness in self-reconfigurable modular robots

Modular robotics link the reliability of a centralised system with the adaptivity of a decentralised system. It is difficult for a robot with a fixed shape to be able to perform many different types of tasks. As the task space grows, the number of functi ...

EPFL2024

Online Multicontact Receding Horizon Planning via Value Function Approximation

Sylvain Calinon, Teguh Santoso Lembono

Planning multicontact motions in a receding horizon fashion requires a value function to guide the planning with respect to the future, e.g., building momentum to traverse large obstacles. Traditionally, the value function is approximated by computing traj ...

Ieee-Inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc2024

Robot Learning using Tensor Networks

Suhan Narayana Shetty

In various robotics applications, the selection of function approximation methods greatly influences the feasibility and computational efficiency of algorithms. Tensor Networks (TNs), also referred to as tensor decomposition techniques, present a versatile ...

EPFL2024

Supporting Teachers' Orchestration in Robot-mediated Classrooms

Sina Shahmoradi

To bring educational robots to classrooms, we need to consider teachers' self-efficacy and challenges in managing a robot-mediated classroom, and how to support them in overcoming these challenges. Orchestration tools are designed to support teachers by pr ...

EPFL2023

The science of soft robot design: A review of motivations, methods and enabling technologies

Josephine Anna Eleanor Hughes, Francesco Stella

Novel technologies, fabrication methods, controllers and computational methods are rapidly advancing the capabilities of soft robotics. This is creating the need for design techniques and methodologies that are suited for the multi-disciplinary nature of s ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2023

Co-constructing an Effective, Sustainable and Scalable Primary School Computer Science Curricular Reform

Laila Abdelsalam El-Hamamsy

Over the past few decades, the debates have shifted from whether to how Computer Science (CS) should be introduced into formal education. Given the diverse ways to introduce CS into formal education, and the struggles many countries have faced, considerabl ...

EPFL2023

Learning and optimization of anticipatory feedback controllers for robot manipulation

Hakan Girgin

Programming intelligent robots requires robust controllers that can achieve desired tasks while adapting to the changes in the task and the environment. In this thesis, we address the challenges in designing such adaptive and anticipatory feedback controll ...

EPFL2023

Dataset for the evaluation of the scalability of a primary school Digital Education curricular reform

Francesco Mondada, Jessica Elke Dehler Zufferey, Barbara Bruno, Laila Abdelsalam El-Hamamsy

Corresponding article : El-Hamamsy, L.*, Monnier, E.-C. *, Chessel-Lazzarotto F., Liégeois G., Bruno, B., Dehler Zufferey, J., and Mondada, F. (2023). An Adapted Cascade Model to Scale Primary School Digital Education Curricular Reforms and Teacher Profess ...

Zenodo2023

Avian-Inspired Claws Enable Robot Perching or Walking

Dario Floreano, Won Dong Shin, William John Stewart, Mohammad Askari

Multimodal unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are rarely capable of more than two modalities, i.e., flying and walking or flying and perching. However, being able to fly, perch, and walk could further improve their usefulness by expanding their operating enve ...

2023

How are primary school computer science curricular reforms contributing to equity? Impact on student learning, perception of the discipline, and gender gaps

Francesco Mondada, Jessica Elke Dehler Zufferey, Barbara Bruno, Laila Abdelsalam El-Hamamsy

Background Early exposure to Computer Science (CS) and Computational Thinking (CT) for all is critical to broaden participation and promote equity in the field. But how does the introduction of CS and CT into primary school curricula impact learning, perce ...

2023