Microsoft, it seems, is on something of a robotics kick: Just days after releasing software that it hopes will become standard for robot builders (The Chronicle, July 6), the company has unveiled a plan to use robots to lure students to computer-science courses.
Under the plan, Microsoft will give researchers from Bryn Mawr College and the Georgia Institute of Technology $1-million to design “personal robots” for introductory computing courses. Students in those courses would purchase the robots along with their textbooks and use the devices in a variety of programming and debugging exercises.
Bryn Mawr and Georgia Tech will match Microsoft’s $1-million gift to found the Institute for Personal Robotics in Education, a project that aims to improve the quality of campus research—and to use robotics projects to energize students’ interest in computing. —Brock Read
