Choate Signature Program:

Advanced Robotics Concentration (ARC)

What is ARC? What is included in the concentration?
The Advanced Robotics Concentration is a three-term, The year that a student enters the program they are
honors program which provides interested and required to take a sequence of three courses:
motivated students the opportunity to explore robotics
at the advanced level. The sequence of three courses CS450HO ROBOTICS DESIGN AND FABRICATION
includes the design and fabrication of mechanical, CS560HO FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION
electrical, and control systems as well as in-depth CS570HO AUTONOMOUS ROBOTICS
autonomous programming including use of sensors,
management systems, and virtual mapping. The heart (See full course descriptions on reverse.)
of the program is the intensive and collaborative In addition, students are required to be part of the
process of preparing for and competing in the FIRST® afternoon lab activity which accompanies the winter
Robotics Competition, a premier international robotics term course CS560HO.
competition. Team-building, project management, and
reflection are integrated throughout the program. A student who completes the program as a fourth or
fifth former has the option to participate again in the
Who is in the program? robotics competition portion of the sequence, repeating
the winter term course CS560HO for another course
The ARC program is open to rising fourth, fifth, and credit. (The student would also be expected to do the
sixth formers. Students should have taken (or plan to afternoon lab activity again, but may request special
take) a prerequisite course (CS300 Intro Robotics, permission to opt-out of it to return to a Varsity athletic
CS310 Robotics II, MD230 Reverse Engineering, team after the first year.)
MD310 Topics in Engineering) or have an approved
equivalent background experience before beginning What is the afternoon lab activity?
the program.
The afternoon lab activity, together with CS560HO,
How does a student apply for the program? form the core of the ARC's immersive experience. This
afternoon lab requirement provides the time necessary
The ARC application process is during the winter term, for the intensive experience of the FIRST Robotics
concurrent with the application processes for SRP and Competition (FRC) build during the winter term. For the
EIP. Interested students should complete the online beginning of the term (November and December)
application form by February 7. An interview with the students will work on preparations for the season's
program directors is also required. Link to the form: build. After the FRC kick-off in January there is a six-
https://goo.gl/forms/uEMyemioKgDvBTbP2 week build period. During this period students will
spend approximately 10-12 hours per week during the
afternoons working in the lab.

How does the program affect a student's

course load?
Students are expected to take the first year of the
program as one of five courses. Six courses are not
recommended during the first year, although may be
allowed in the fall or spring terms with special
permission. Students may take the winter course as a
sixth course during the optional second (or third) year
in the program. Students should consult with a
program director to assist in planning their course
requests.

PROGRAM DIRECTORS: Andrew Murgio ([email protected]) / Kyle Di Tieri ([email protected])

 the end of the build period. Throughout the term,
students, as a group, fully document their build and
design process in the team's engineering notebook,
and, individually, record their progress and reflections
in their personal journals. Students practice
communicating their ideas, in writing, drawings, or
orally, throughout their work in the lab and at
competitions. Open to students who have completed
CS450HO and are in ARC.

Note 1: Students in CS560HO are usually required to

concurrently be enrolled in the accompanying
afternoon lab activity as their winter term activity/sport.

Note 2: Although the FRC build season occurs entirely

during the winter term, the actual competition events
that the students attend will typically occur during the
spring term. Students would be expected to attend at
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS least one event in the spring.

Note 3: Students in ARC may repeat CS560HO for

ROBOTICS DESIGN AND FABRICATION, another course credit in subsequent years that they are
HONORS in the program.
Fall term; 1 course credit
CS450HO
AUTONOMOUS ROBOTICS, HONORS
This course teaches students how to manage a project
Spring term; 1 course credit
and design mechanical, electrical and programmable
CS570HO
systems. Rather than working in predefined robotic
environments (such as VEX), students use a variety of
This course builds upon the work completed during the
materials and systems to create their own robots from
fall term course CS450. Students use a robot they
the ground up. Programmable microcontrollers provide
have already fabricated from their own design to
a flexible environment that can be applied to many
explore autonomous behaviors. (Students in CS570HO
robotics projects, and will be the main source of control
who are not in ARC and have not completed CS450HO
logic. Students are expected to design and fabricate
may build and use a kit robot.) Use of various sensors
custom components. Important skills practiced in this
and encoders allow for programmed responses to the
class include: soldering, testing circuitry, CAD design,
data. Students learn to design and use automatic
wiring, electrical prototyping with a breadboard,
control and management systems to analyze and
fabrication with power tools, programming with
interpret feedback. A focus is placed on using
appropriate languages, and project management.
organized and clear structure in programming as well
Open to students who are in ARC or, as space is
as careful debugging of work. Open to students who
available, to students who have completed CS310 or
are in ARC or, as space is available, to students who
have the permission of the department.
have completed CS450HO, CS550HO, or have the
permission of the department.

FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION, HONORS

Winter term; 1 course credit
CS560HO

This course includes all of the preparation ARC

students complete to compete in the FIRST Robotics
Competition. Initially, students apply their design and
fabrication skills to building basic chassis and general
purpose mechanical components that can later be
customized or integrated into a specialized robot. Once
the FRC game is revealed in January, the intensive
six-week build period begins. Students strategize how
to approach the game and rapidly begin to prototype
mechanisms for specific tasks. Testing and refining
their designs, as well as adding and debugging
appropriate programming, are continuously done until