Using Robotics Competitions To Teach Teamwork Principles And Fundamental Engineering/Computer Science Concepts

All freshmen in the electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science programs at the University of Evansville take a common “Introduction to Engineering” course during their first semester. The course is focused on exposing students to team-based, multidiscipline, and project-oriented learning. Two robotics contests are used to teach fundamental principles in electrical engineering, computer engineering and computer science. The contests have also been very effective in helping students learn to work well with one another on multidisciplinary teams. This paper describes the course format, the introductory lectures, the robot competitions, the techniques used to encourage teamwork, and assessment of the course.