Education - RoboPI

Mission And Philosophy

Dr. Md Jahidul Islam is leading several education and outreach activities at the RoboPI laboratory. The long-term goal of these programs is to democratize robotics education through interactive and accessible tools for STEM workforce development. We believe that robotics and AI can contribute heavily as a natural and fun way to contribute toward building a stronger STEM workforce for the next generation. Our philosophy for education is to inspire students to learn, think critically, and be enthusiastic about scientific inquiry. Our mission is to be a part of this journey by introducing new technologies to young students and helping them become future innovators in STEM-related careers.

Towards that goal, Dr. Islam and RoboPI lab members are involved in undergraduate and graduate STEM education, mentoring undergraduate students through UF CUR, and K-12 students through UF CPET. The broader outreach activities also include coaching VEX Robotics Competitions in North-Central Florida regions, and hosting two robotics workshops at UF every summer.

Graduate and Undergraduate Education

Dr. Islam has dedicated his academic career to developing interactive and accessible tools to bridge this gap between theory and hands-on learning in robotics and AI education. At UF, Dr. Islam teaches the famous Microprocessor Applications 2 (Undergraduate) and Autonomous Robots (Graduate/Undergraduate) courses at UF. Both these STEM course development efforts are funded by Texas Instruments (TI).

EEL 4930/5934: Autonomous Robots (AuRo) - Every Spring

AuRo covers the theoretical and experimental fundamentals involved in the design and operation of autonomous robots and/or intelligent agents. The introductory discussions span over the subtopics of robot perception, planning, and control. Other major topics include robot part design, sensory integration, motion kinematics, simulation testing (ROS/ROS2), unmodeled environmental/social factors, and aspects of field deployment. In addition to the standard terrestrial robotic systems, it covers analogous topics and design choices for underwater robotics and aerial robotics as well. All the materials and homeworks of this course are developed based on the widely accepted practices of robotics technologies in the modern era.

EEL 4930/5934: AuRo

EEL 4745C: Microprocessor Applications 2 (uP2) - Every Fall

uP2 covers the basic concepts of RTOS (Real-Time Operating System) and provides hands-on knowledge of programming important RTOS components on ARM cortex M4-based processors. Important topics are: multi-threaded programming, thread schedulers, inter-process communication, and synchronization/mutual exclusion via semaphores. Students also learn how to design embedded C software driver libraries for peripherals such as I2C RGB LEDs drivers and a resistive, pixel-based LCD touchscreen. In the later part of this course, students learn to interface a single-board mini computer in an embedded Linux environment to develop several embedded AI/IoT projects.

EEL 4745C: uP2

Undergraduate and K-12 Mentoring Programs

Robotics always stimulates the curiosity and interest of young minds. Dr. Islam at the RoboPI lab performs a road map of activities involving robotics education for K-12 students. Every year, we organize two “RoboGator Day” event at UF to showcase field robots and virtual simulators to undergraduate and high-school students on a regular basis. These outreach activities will expand to include middle-school students as well as community colleges in North and Central Florida counties. We are coordinating with the UF Center for Precollegiate Education and Training (CPET) to identify prospective students through the Student Science Training Program (SSTP), which facilitates seven weeks of summer residential research activities. From Summer-2024, we have been organizing a “Building Nemo” robotic workshop as well. The objective of this workshop is to train pre-college students to build a simple yet complete end-to-end robotic system such as RC cars, ROVs, and fish-like autonomous robots.

We are also involved in significant undergraduate mentoring programs at UF and beyond. Dr. Islam is currently mentoring six UF undergraduate students at multiple robotics projects through the Center for Undergraduate Research (CUR), which is for fostering critical and independent thinking, creativity, and understanding of the research process in undergraduate students. We are also hosting two visiting students (one from the University of South Carolina and one from Mississippi State University) through the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. Over the next few years, these activities will expand to 12 UF students, including four more SURF students from universities across the United States. Dr. Islam mentors the students personally and involves them in the scientific learning process throughout the lifetime of this project, which provides long-term hands-on training and exposure to the broader umbrella of STEM research.