Exciting Students for Systems Programming Through the Use of Mobile Robots

Abstract

In this paper we present our experience teaching Systems Program- ming in C to undergraduate students. Additionally to traditional Unix-like operating system approach, we employed a robotic plat- form - the e-puck mobile robot - to increase the students moti- vation and improve their learning experience. A robotic platform provides high attraction for students, making the class stand-out compared to other courses. Yet it is not only a playground, rather, the platform allows to present very challenging and sophisticated real-life programming problems in a tangible way. The chosen robot provides an open-source operating system with a well struc- tured programming interface and thus o ers a real-world, complex example of systems programming to the students. We describe the overall curriculum and the syllabus of the course itself. Emphasis is put on the design of the in-class and homework assignments, but the robotic platform is brie y described as well. Our success is con rmed by the end-of-semester evaluation by the students, who ranked our course among the top of all bachelor-level courses.