Fall 2022 Guest Seminar - R. Iris Bahar

The Robots Are Coming, The Robots Are Coming: Teaching an Interdisciplinary Course on Robotics+Art

 by Professor R. Iris Bahar, Colorado School of Mines 

Abstract:   Art, design, computing, and engineering principles are often taught in a siloed fashion.  This approach leaves students with a missed opportunity to work together in interdisciplinary teams and learn valuable skills from one another.  In my recently taught course, The Robots Are Coming! The Robots Are Coming! we illustrate the power of multidisciplinary study and the beauty of collaboration among students.  This course aims to both augment existing artistic robots and design new dynamic interactive creations and encourages exploration of issues regarding spirit, self, technology, language, ethics, and sustainability as starting points for design.  Students started the semester elaborating, enhancing, and extending robotic structures donated by artist and co-instructor Eva Goetz with new mechanical, electrical, and software features.  As the class rebuilt the existing robots, students gained hands-on understanding of fundamental principles in engineering, computing, design, and collaboration. Students also designed final team projects in the spirit of Eva’s artistic robots that combined design, hardware, and software concepts covered throughout the semester.  My talk concludes with some thoughts on the future of STEM education and how courses may be made more inclusive, collaborative, and engaging.

Biography: R. Iris Bahar received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She recently joined the faculty at the Colorado School of Mines in January 2022 and serves as Department Head of Computer Science.  Before joining Mines, she was on the faculty at Brown University for 26 years and held dual appointments as Professor of Engineering and Professor of Computer Science.   Her research interests focus on energy-efficient and reliable computing, from the system level to device level.  Most recently this includes the design of robotics systems.  She is the 2019 recipient of the Marie R. Pistilli Women in Engineering Achievement Award and the Brown University School of Engineering Award for Excellence in Teaching in Engineering.  More recently, as well as the 2022 recipient of the University of Illinois ECE Distinguished Alumni Award.  Iris is an IEEE fellow and an ACM Distinguished Scientist.