Abstract
Education in the field of computer programming is a challenging task, in particular when some complex issues are introduced for non-computer science students. A number of simplified programming languages, environments and simulation software have been developed in recent years to support both teaching as well as self-learning of different programming techniques. However, there are no solutions for teaching in the domain of concurrent programming in the Java language. In this paper we present our original concept of studies using NXT robots to teach Java-based concurrency. An NXT robot equipped with Java virtual machine seems to be a good solution to improve teaching concurrent programming. Actions performed in real-time by robots allow students to observe the performance of their applications and quickly identify mistakes in their code.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Eubanks, A.M., Strader, R.G., Dunn, D.L.: A comparison of compact robotics platforms for model teaching. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges 26(4), 35–40 (2011) ISSN 1937-4771
Virnes, M., Sutinen, E., Kärnä-Lin, E.: How children’s individual needs challenge the design of educational robotics. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, Chicago, USA, June 11-13, pp. 274–281 (2008) ISBN 978-1-59593-994-4
Virnes, M.: Robotics in special needs education. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, Chicago, USA, June 11-13, pp. 29–32 (2008) ISBN 978-1-59593-994-4
Kanda, T., Shimada, M., Koizumi, S.: Children learning with a social robot. In: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Boston, USA, March 05-08, pp. 351–358 (2012) ISBN 978-1-4503-1063-5
Lui, A.K., Ng, S.C., Cheung, Y.H.Y., Gurung, P.: Facilitating independent learning with Lego Mindstorms robots. ACM Inroads 1(4), 49–53 (2010) ISSN 2153-2184
Chen, G.-D., Chi, Y.-L., Huang, C.-W., Fan, C.-Y., Wu, C.-J.: Design a Partner Robot with Emotions in the Mixed Reality Learning Environment. In: Chang, M., Hwang, W.-Y., Chen, M.-P., Müller, W. (eds.) Edutainment 2011. LNCS, vol. 6872, pp. 457–463. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Osborne, R.B., Thomas, A.J., Forbes, J.R.N.: Teaching with robots: a service-learning approach to mentor training. In: Proceedings of the 41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Milwaukee, USA, March 10-13, pp. 172–176 (2010) ISBN 978-1-4503-0006-3
Jipping, M.J., Calka, C., O’Neill, B., Padilla, C.R.: Teaching students java bytecode using Lego mindstorms robots. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin 39(1), 170–174 (2007) ISSN 0097-8418
Pedersen, R.U., Nørbjerg, J., Scholz, M.P.: Embedded programming education with Lego Mindstorms NXT using Java (leJOS), Eclipse (XPairtise), and Python (PyMite). In: Proceedings of the 2009 Workshop on Embedded Systems Education, Grenoble, France, October 11-16, pp. 50–55 (2009) ISBN: 978-1-4503-0021-6
Miller, D., Nourbakhsh, I., Siegwart, R.: Springer Handbook of Roboics. Springer, Heidleberg (2008)
Computing Curricula 2001 Computer Science, ACM, IEEE, http://www.acm.org/education/curric_vols/cc2001.pdf
Pattis, R., Roberts, J.: Karel The Robot: A Gentle Introduction to the Art of Programming, 2nd edn. Wiley (1995)
LeJOS, Java for Lego Mindstorms, http://lejos.sourceforge.net/
The LeJOS NXJ Tutorial: Using Eclipse, http://lejos.sourceforge.net/nxt/nxj/tutorial/Preliminaries/UsingEclipse.html
Lego.com midstorms products, http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/products/default.aspx
Roberts, E.: The Dream of a Common Language: The Search for Simplicity and Stability in Computer Science Education. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Homepage 36(1) (March 2004) ISBN:1-58113-798-2
Roberts, E.: An Overview of MiniJava. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Homepage 33(1) (March 2001) ISBN:1-58113-329-4
Resnick, M., Maloney, J., Monroy-Hernández, A., Rusk, N., Eastmond, E., Brennan, K., Millner, A., Rosenbaum, E., Silver, J., Silverman, B., Kafai, Y.: Scratch Programming for All. Magazine Communications of the ACM - Scratch Programming for All CACM Homepage Archive 52(11) (November 2009)
Hamada, M., Sato, S.: Simulator and Robot-Based Game for Learning Automata Theory. In: Zhang, X., Zhong, S., Pan, Z., Wong, K., Yun, R. (eds.) Edutainment 2010. LNCS, vol. 6249, pp. 429–437. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Kazerouni, A., Shrewsbury, B., Padgett, C.: Using the NXT as an educational tool in computer science classes. In: Proceedings of the 49th Annual Southeast Regional Conference, Kennesaw, USA, March 24-26, pp. 67–69 (2011) ISBN 978-1-4503-0686-7
Race condition, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_condition
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Szweda, Ł., Wilusz, D., Flotyński, J. (2012). Application of NXT Based Robots for Teaching Java-Based Concurrency. In: Göbel, S., Müller, W., Urban, B., Wiemeyer, J. (eds) E-Learning and Games for Training, Education, Health and Sports. Edutainment GameDays 2012 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7516. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33466-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33466-5_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-33465-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-33466-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)