LEGO Robotics Workshop

Professor Gábor Csányi

The way humans live their daily lives changed dramatically during the industrial revolution: automation and streamlining processes allowed the average living standard to rise to a level never imagined before. Today we are living through a similar technological revolution, but this time around the automation and streamlining is all about intangible information. Living standards continue to rise, and even basic programming and engineering skills can be utilised to increase productivity and efficiency in every part of life, helping us to do our jobs significantly better and faster.

Course Objectives

This intensive practical course revolves around technical problem solving, engineering and programming using LEGO Mindstorms sets. Students will design, build, and program autonomous robotic systems to perform tasks such as navigating around a maze, sorting blocks according to color, or playing tic-tac-toe. Students will encounter and acquire an understanding of all aspects of such an architectural challenge, including research, design, hardware construction and software implementation.

Intended Audience

This course is aimed at students who are interested in learning while playing, and who are ready to acquire knowledge by exploration. Please note that there is very little formal lecturing and students should be prepared to work with little instruction. 

Previous Knowledge

No previous knowledge is required for this course. Students will learn different things depending on their previous experience. Students who are familiar with a programming language will explore the LEGO hardware more than students who are new to programming, who will develop their programming skills. 

Transferable Knowledge and Skills

This course will develop problem solving, teamwork, project management and programming skills.

Teaching Methodology

After some carefully selected introductory exercises, teams of two students will move on to design and build their own constructions. In order to facilitate creative thinking and free exploration, teams will choose their projects freely, without constraints, under our advisement. Teams will work continuously throughout the duration of the course, with scheduling and planning at their own discretion, while receiving guidance and help from the instructors during scheduled sessions. The course will culminate in a series of presentations, where teams will have a chance to demonstrate the fruits of their newly acquired skills and share their experiences.