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The Robot Programming Network

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Abstract

The Robot Programming Network (RPN) is an initiative for creating a network of robotics education laboratories with remote programming capabilities. It consists of both online open course materials and online servers that are ready to execute and test the programs written by remote students. Online materials include introductory course modules on robot programming, mobile robotics and humanoids, aimed to learn from basic concepts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to more advanced programming skills. The students have access to the online server hosts, where they submit and run their programming code on the fly. The hosts run a variety of robot simulation environments, and access to real robots can also be granted, upon successful achievement of the course modules. The learning materials provide step-by-step guidance for solving problems with increasing level of difficulty. Skill tests and challenges are given for checking the success, and online competitions are scheduled for additional motivation and fun. Use of standard robotics middleware (ROS) allows the system to be extended to a large number of robot platforms, and connected to other existing tele-laboratories for building a large social network for online teaching of robotics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robotic Intelligence Laboratory, Jaume-I University of Castelló, Castellon, Spain

    Enric Cervera, Raul Marin, Angel P. del Pobil, Jaime Alemany, Roger Esteller & Gustavo Casañ

  2. IRCCyN Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Nantes, France

    Philippe Martinet & Amine A. Moughlbay

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  1. Enric Cervera
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  2. Philippe Martinet
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  3. Raul Marin
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  4. Amine A. Moughlbay
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  5. Angel P. del Pobil
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  6. Jaime Alemany
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  7. Roger Esteller
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Correspondence to Enric Cervera.

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Cervera, E., Martinet, P., Marin, R. et al. The Robot Programming Network. J Intell Robot Syst 81, 77–95 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-015-0201-7

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