[Edu-sig] Women, robots, and Python

[Douglas S. Blank]

Greetings!

I've just joined this list, and have found the last couple of weeks' 
discussions to be right on target for me.

I teach at Bryn Mawr College, an all women's school just getting a 
computer science (and cognitive science) program off the ground. The 
problems of gender and CompSci are complex ones, but ones that I think 
Python has a role in which to play. I hope that discussion continues here.

We aren't ready to teach any courses in Python (yet) but the last 
project that I started is written in Python, called Pyro, for Python 
Robotics.

It wasn't too long ago that planning a robotics system in an interpreted 
language would have seemed insane (and there are probably some that 
still think that!) But Python has turned out to work very well for our 
uses. One of the main goals was to encourage students to understand all 
aspects of the robotic control system, especially the "brains". we also 
wanted the system to be able to be used by "real" robotics researchers.

So far, we have succeeded. The system is fast enough to control 
different types of robots (with lasers, sonars, and cameras) using 
simple Python control programs, to more complex ones written in Fuzzy 
logic, or neural networks... all in Python.

You can download (or just checkout) Pyro at 
http://emergent.brynmawr.edu/wiki/?Pyro

I look forward to conversations on intro teaching, gender issues, 
robots, and Python. Thanks,

-Doug

-- 
Douglas S. Blank,         Assistant Professor
dblank@brynmawr.edu,            (610)526-6501
Bryn Mawr College,   Computer Science Program
101 North Merion Ave,       Park Science Bld.
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010  dangermouse.brynmawr.edu