Reclaiming the ECE Disciplines in

Robotics, Energy, Biomedical, Materials

Ed Schlesinger
Professor and Head
[email protected]
Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)

 Despite the large number of “electrical and computer

engineering” and similarly named departments at US
universities, there are currently only 16 universities offering
accredited BS degrees in Electrical and Computer
Engineering.
 Most universities continue to have separate BS degree

programs in Electrical Engineering (268) and Computer

Engineering or Computer Systems Engineering (165)
 Our university introduced the BS in ECE as a single degree

over 16 years ago.

The “Traditional” View

ECE

EE CE
Solid State Architecture
Fields and Waves Computer Systems
Communications Software
Control Security
Signal Processing .
Circuits .
. .
.
.
A Different View

Sensor Networks
Embedded Systems
IC Manufacturing
Energy Systems
Wireless Communications
.
.
.

There is no clear demarcation between EE and CE

ECE as a Unified Discipline
 The evolution of the field of electrical and computer engineering
demands a new breed of ECE graduates with a broad set of
competencies that cannot be classified into “EE” and “CE”.
 The core requirements should assure students have a foundation in
a set of essential concepts and skills for an ECE career.
 The breadth, coverage, depth and capstone design requirements
should assure students have a sufficiently rich ECE education.
 The number of free electives should be sufficient to encourage
students to:
 specialize deeply in a particular area of ECE; OR
 become broadly educated in a number of areas of ECE; OR
 complement their ECE experience with education in another field (e.g.,
biomedical engineering, public policy, computer science, business, life
sciences, humanities, music, etc.).
Motivation to “Unify”
 For students who will practice this profession:
 Students need to see the breadth as well as depth of Electrical and
Computer Engineering. They must be prepared to understand that
application domains do not easily “fit” into narrowly defined subfields
such as “Electrical Engineering” or “Computer Engineering”

 For students who will NOT practice this profession:

 Electrical and Computer Engineering as the new “liberal arts”. Many
fields today have aspects of Electrical and Computer Engineering as
their underpinning and it is important that practitioners of these fields
understands how technology enables and defines their field.
 ECE Curriculum (379 Units)
~Four Courses per Semester

Math, Sci, Math, Sci,

H&SS Intro to ECE Fall Freshman
Comp. Prog.Comp. Prog.
Math, Sci, Math, Sci,
H&SS Intro to Eng Spring Freshman
Comp. Prog.Comp. Prog.
Math, Sci,
H&SS Fund of ECE Eng Math Fall Sophomore
Comp. Prog.
Eight Math, Sci, Math, Sci, Math, Sci,
Semesters H&SS Fund of ECE Spring Sophomore
Comp. Prog. Comp. Prog. Comp. Prog.
Math, Sci,
H&SS Fund of ECE Fund of ECE Fall Junior
Comp. Prog.
ECE ECE ECE
H&SS Spring Junior
Breadth Breadth Depth
ECE Free Free
H&SS Fall Senior
Coverage Elective Elective
Free ECE Free Free
H&SS Spring Senior
Elective Capstone Elective Elective

99. + 75 + 12+ + 73 + 60 + 60 = 379 Units

ECE Curriculum at Carnegie Mellon

2 Breadth Depth
ECE Core Courses 1 course with
18-100 Capstone
a breadth
18-200 Applied Design
course as
Physics a prereq. Course
18-202 18-220 prereq:
Circuits Coverage 2 breadth
1 additional or
21-127 18-290 ECE/CS/RI 1 depth
Signals course
course
& Systems
15-100 18-240 Computer
Hardware Free Electives
(60 units)
379 units
15-123 18-243 Computer
Systems
Undergraduate Core Courses ECE and CS

18-240 15-212
Structure and Principles of
Design of Programming
Digital Systems

18-220 18-243/15-213 15-211

Electronic Introduction to Fundamentals of
Devices and Computer Data Structures
Analog Circuits Systems and Algorithms

18-290 15-251
Signal and Great Theoretical
Information Ideas in
Processing Computer Science
Flexibility and Choice

 Allows our students to choose and pursue many additional

majors and minors
 Double majors include CS, EPP, BME, and more

 Many minors including…..Robotics….

Robotics Institute
 Founded 25 years ago.
 The first Robotics “Department”
 ... but not a typical department!
 About 450 researchers:
 61 faculty
 211 technical staff,
 110 graduate students,
 68 visiting faculty and postdocs.
 Education
 Graduate
 Undergraduate
 K-12
 Outreach
 Sponsored research budget: $55M
 Technology commercialization
Robotics as an Educational Vehicle

 Taps into students tinkering skills

 Work in teams

 Connect high and low level concepts

 Loads of fun to teach

Robotics Institute Undergraduate Activities

 Courses
 Robotics Minor

 Fifth Year MS Program

 Robotics Club

 On-campus competitions: Mobot!

 Robotics Minor
Semester No. of
Students
Fall 2006
Five course requirement ME 1
Total 1
Spring 2007
1. Introduction to Robotics CS 8
2. Controls ECE 4
ME 8
ECE, CS, ME Control Total 20
3. Kinematics Fall 2007
Manipulation (CS) or Kinematics (ME) CS 4
ECE 1
4. Elective 1 ME 1
5. Elective 2 Total 6
Spring 2008
CS 11
ECE 4
ME 9
See http://roboticsminor.org Total 24
Fall 2008
CS 3
ECE 1
ME 3
Total 7
Elective Courses
Computer Science Electrical and Computer Engineering
 15-381 Artificial Intelligence  18-342: Fundamentals of Embedded Systems
 15-384 Manipulation (Kinematics and
 18-348: Embedded System Engineering
Dynamics)  18-578: Mechatronic Design
 15-385 Computer Vision
 15-462 Graphics
 15-494 Cognitive Robotics Mechanical Engineering
 15-491 CMU Robobits  24-675: Micro/Nano Robotics
 15-463 Computational Photography

Architecture
Robotics  48-787: Architectural Robotics (MSCD Project II)
 16-264 Humanoids
 16-299 Controls
Psychology
 16-311 Introduction to Robotics
 85-370: Perception
 16-362/682 Mobile Robot
 85-382: Consciousness and Cognition
Programming Laboratory
 16-421 Vision Sensors  85-395: Applications of Cognitive Science
 85-412: Cognitive Modeling
 85-419: Introduction to Parallel Distributed Processing
 85-420: Perception and Perceptual Development
16-311 Introduction to Robotics
 Vision
 Motion planning

 Mechanisms

 Teleoperation

 Non-holonomy

 Forward Kinematics

 Inverse Kinematics

 Lego robots built each week…

http://www.generalrobotics.org
16-264 Humanoids
 This course surveys perception, cognition, and movement in humans,
humanoid robots, and humanoid graphical characters. Application areas
include more human-like robots, videogame characters, and interactive
movie characters.
 Each lab group gets their very own Robosapien RS Media.
 Freshmen and sophomores encouraged.

www.cs.cmu.edu/~cga/humanoids-ugrad/
16-362/862 Mobile Robot Programming Laboratory
 Lab course to build a complete robot
software system.
 its about functionality, not code.
 lab evaluations each week
 Suitable for those who can already write
reasonable code.
 Work in teams on Nomad Scouts.
 Final Competition.
 Use Java and Eclipse IDE.

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/16-362-862/
15-491 CMRoboBits
 The course is an advanced introduction to AI and robotics as a hands-
on experience to interactively learn how to create different and
multiple intelligent robots. Topics covered in the course are: Basic
Robot Motion Control and Sensor Input; Computer Vision; Planning &
Obstacle Avoidance; Path Planning; Intelligent Behaviors; Collaborative
and Adversarial Multi-Robot Systems; Robot Learning.

 Uses SEVERAL robot platforms: iRobot Create, Scribbler, AIBO, and

“ER1-based” ones!

 Uses as the underlying development framework: The Microsoft

Robotics Studio!

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/15-491/
Fifth Year MS

 Same Masters Degree as the MS in Robotics (external

students)
 Different admission process
 Simple on-line application
 Admissions made before Spring Semester begins
 No GREs
 Allows admitted undergraduates to jump start their MS
degree and start research
Robotics Club (http://roboticsclub.org)
 Student organization which is the oldest Robotics Club in
the world

 Founded in 1984

 Build robots for fun.

 Obtain their own funding and support

Robotics Club Projects
Active Projects Past Projects
Air Hockey Robot Rolling Robot
ASME Student Design SCARA Arm
BattleBots Tunnel Crawler
ChalkBot Fuzzy
Colony Taurus 2
Fun With Robots Carpet Monkey
Mobot Cops and Robbers
Red Robot Taurus
RobOrchestra Hyper Squirrel
Underwater Swarm Bots HEXX
Malfunction
Pikachu MOBOT
Flying Doughnut
Firebot
CISSRS Lego Robotics Competition
Robotic Submarine
Robotic Hovercraft
Projects Overview - 2001
Mobot Deminer
Original Jim
Jim 2000
Wean Hall Wall Walker
Teleoperated Rover
Simplified Biped Project
Robot Application Programming Interface
Biped
Mobot
 One of the high points of Carnival
 Generate technological excitement

 Provide hands-on experience for our undergraduates

 Showcase the cleverness and technical competence of

Carnegie undergraduates and other community members

(including alumni).
Conclusion

 We view Electrical and Computer Engineering as a

unified discipline
 Our curriculum provides;
 fundamentals, depth and breadth
 great flexibility and choice for students
 Course offerings in specific areas such as,
robotics security, communications, sensors,
energy systems, and more…..
By not over constraining the curriculum and thus providing
flexibility it is possible to offer students additional areas of
focus.