This work was done in collaboration with Dr. Jory Denny from the University of Richmond and was accepted to the Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges: Northeastern Conference.  Although we will not be able to go present this work in person, I am excited that we will be able to do so virtually.

Benjamin T. Fine and Jory Denny. “Review of Robots for Computer Science Curriculum”. The Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges. CCSC Northeastern Conference. Mahwah, New Jersey. June 2020.

The number of available robotic platforms on the market has not only increased, but also the choices in terms of sensors, actuation, and language compatibility have diversified. While there is a large body of literature that discusses the integration and use of robots in Computer Science, many of the works do not adequately treat the selection of the robot platform.  In this study, we review the technical aspects of 17 mobile robot platforms for integration into a Computer Science curriculum.  This work presents a discussion on how one should evaluate and compare various mobile robot platforms with respect to how the robot will be integrated and utilized.  Additionally, new metrics for cross comparing the available robots on the market are presented and used in exemplar case studies.