Robotics for High School Students in a University Enviroment

The Young Scholars Program at the Institute for Systems Research of the University of Maryland at College Park is an innovative summer research experience for high school students from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Its goal is to steer talented high school seniors toward higher education and careers in science and engineering. One particularly popular component of this program is a two‐week mini‐coursein robotics. This course utilizes the resources of the Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory of the university to introduce and demonstrate theoretical and practical aspects of robotics. This paper reports on the characteristics that make this a unique effort in robotics‐related education for both the Young Scholars Program participants and the small group of University of Maryland graduate students who have been responsible for the development and instruction of this course.