3. Practical lab:

The enormous development which is taking place nowadays in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence, and their applications in various technical fields, in addition to using them as an efficient means in teaching a variety of scientific concepts, urged the department of computer engineering and automation in Damascus University to prepare and train the necessary cadres in this important field of engineering branches. That's why this department started equipping a special lab for this purpose consisting of the following:

1. Software: a collection of modeling and simulation software applications (Pyro, Labview, Microsoft Robotics Studio, Matlab, Network simulators like wireshark and NS2) to build different engineering models including robots and apply different engineering concepts related to these models and simulating its work, and should consist of programming libraries to link with C and Java dedicated to robots programming.

2. Hardware: robotic manipulators (Puma, Kuka, Lynxmotion), robotic creatures (Sony AIBO, Honda ASIMO, MIT Genghis), robotic vehicles (Khepera, Pioneer, Roomba, Braitenberg, DARwIn, LEGO mindstorms RCX and NXT)

3. Accessories: consist of control boards, sensors, actuators, cameras, microphones.

4. Equipments: consist of oscilloscopes, signal generators, measurement devices, power supply units, computers, and a computer network.

5. Bibliotheca: software and hardware brochures, scientific journals, books, experiments booklets.

4. Achievement plan:

We realized the use of robotics as an efficient tool in education, through certain activities using a plan consisted of the following:

1. Giving theoretical lectures

2. Solving practical exercises

3. Making practical experiments

4. Implementing practical project tasks

These activities rely on learning models and students skills, chosen according to the objectives, and then are evaluated to regulate the learning process using certain criteria. Projects can be continually enhanced to be used as educational tools.

Achievement methods are difficult to classify within one discipline due to the diversity of the projects and activities objectives (teach programming, let the students create their own robots, experiment and build up some scientific concepts mentioned in section 2), and to certain constraints (specific course in electro-mechanics, some material is lacking, time is limited). Learning is more beneficial when the projects are defined and realized by students own ideas and strategies. Some gained skills are either un-transferable from one domain to another (courses in physics, certain programming language syntax), or specific to self-acquisition, planning and problem solving, cooperation, self-evaluation, and students characteristics (motivation, initiative, will, pleasure, persistence).

Some domains, are mastered by a systematic practice with teachers guidance and help for students to maintain motivation, interpret their behaviors consequences and correct them using planned instructions. Other domains benefit from an approach of individuality based on free exploration of available resources, where students have the initiative, teachers provide a reacting environment, and learning can be made by creating new things and realizing real works coming from an individual or group ideas. Here teachers have to present stimuli, address questions, provide interesting models and resources, and give feedbacks about the content too.

Depending on the moments and actors, the same student in the same context can develop alternatively several learning strategies belonging to his abilities to do things with and without help. At one moment, the student wants to receive some information from the teacher (transference and imitation), at another moment he likes to explore the available resources and to build personally his project and knowledge at his own pace (creation). In this context, the teacher has to develop teaching multiplicity that permits to adjust his reactions to the student’s learning multiplicity (the teacher will switch from lecture and talking to providing resources to be explored by students and letting them talk and discuss). Actually three development zones concerning students, teachers, and learning environment, should intersect, and the larger the zone of intersection is, the better education process we get.

Depending on the teachers, one approach can focus more on creation, experimentation, or transference. It will depend on the target objectives and on the resources available to the students. Another one will consider creation, that lead the student to develop behaviors linked to exploration and experimentation, but always referring to his own projects. The teacher can decide that the student will have the initiative to define and realize a project (build robots and program them), but at some moments provide a unification of the new ideas encountered and enrich them with new concepts, or he proposes some help that refers more to transference explaining some procedures. The student has to formulate his own hypotheses and build his theories, having the opportunity to benefit from a concrete support (robots, graphics) that allows to visualize his process. Two features of creativity in using robotic activities are building the robots, and writing their programs. Creation of original models depends on the flexibility of materials and students imagination. Programming a computer with a given language can be considered a creation since the student can choose the movements the robot will execute. When the design is defined by the teacher or another student, the creativity relies on the way to build the robot and the program, but not in the project choice. Exhibitions and competitions form a good motivating means for students where they are encouraged to learn, experiment, and make their own theories and projects.

Using robotics in education can be applied to traditional, virtual, and hybrid learning, and it can be used in either of two ways: final year undergraduate course where all what was acquired in different subjects can be explained, or from the first year courses and up, explaining every subject by itself to finally form the whole picture.

Some of the practical undergraduate and postgraduate projects we managed to implement in our department, which are awarded Al-Basel prize for creativity and innovation (the most reputed innovation rewarding prize in Syria), are:

1. Design and implementation of a robotic vehicle for exploring irregular areas. (named Rubian).

2. Defining the location of mobile objects using wireless sensors networks.

3. Intelligent and remote control of objects via computer networks.

4. Design and implementation of a climbing robot (named Ankab).

5. Design and implementation of an ad hoc protocol for mobile multi-agent robots.

Here the students managed to build their own systems using tools mentioned in section 3, they used microcontrollers and assembly language to program them, used different sensors and motors, and used C language to make user level monitoring and control software.

To measure our achievements during the last five years in education enhancement in our department we will use two indicators, students performance, and students satisfaction, where both were increased. Students performance was clear through the successful tasks they made, better marks, increased participation in competitions and exhibitions, and increased employment by companies. Satisfaction is clear through the increased number of students registering in the postgraduate courses, and good propaganda they make which resulted in an increased number of new students who register for the undergraduate course.

Recently we are in the process of forming a robotics club which has the following aims:

1. Make the science of robotic systems available in Arabic to those interested in Syria and the Arabic world through issuing books and journals in both paper and electronic form.

2. Holding technical projects aim to link the university with the industry and the society in order to support the national economy and offer job opportunities to specialists.

3. Offer the necessary knowledge and tools in robotic sciences to the members to develop their abilities to work in this field.

4. Coordinate with scientific departments and civil organizations in the field of developing and rising the society.

5. Organize international conferences in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence.