ATLAS Colloquium welcomes R. Iris Bahar

In-person at ATLAS 208 and via ZOOM

The Robots Are Coming, The Robots Are Coming:

Teaching an Interdisciplinary Course on Robotics+Art

Abstract:  Art, design, computing and engineering principles are often taught in a siloed fashion. This approach leaves students with a missed opportunity to work together in interdisciplinary teams and learn valuable skills from one another. In my recently taught course, "The Robots Are Coming! The Robots Are Coming!" we illustrate the power of multidisciplinary study and the beauty of collaboration among students. This course aims to both augment existing artistic robots and design new dynamic interactive creations and encourages exploration of issues regarding spirit, self, technology, language, ethics,and sustainability as starting points for design. Students started the semester elaborating, enhancingand extending robotic structures donated by artist and co-instructor Eva Goetz with new mechanical, electrical and software features. As the class rebuilt the existing robots, students gained hands-on understanding of fundamental principles in engineering, computing, design,and collaboration.  Students also designed final team projects in the spirit of Eva’s artistic robots that combined design, hardware and software concepts covered throughout the semester. My talk concludes with some thoughts on the future of STEM education and how courses may be made more inclusive, collaborative and engaging.

Bio:  R. Iris Bahar received BS.and MS degrees in computer engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a PhD degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. She recently joined the faculty at the Colorado School of Mines in January 2022 and serves as Department Head of Computer Science. Before joining Mines, she was on the faculty at Brown University from 1996-2021 and held dual appointments as Professor of Engineering and Professor of Computer Science. Her research interests focus on energy-efficient and reliable computing, from the system level to device level. Most recently this includes the design of robotics systems. She is the 2019 recipient of the Marie R. Pistilli Women in Engineering Achievement Award and the Brown University School of Engineering Award for Excellence in Teaching in Engineering. She is an IEEE fellow and an ACM Distinguished Scientist.