Integrating Service Learning with Undergraduate Robotics Research

Through a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, the authors have forged an interdisciplinary effort to integrate graduate and undergraduate research, curriculum, and outreach projects that promote service learning in robotics and intelligent systems. The authors have founded the Institute for Research in Intelligent Systems (IRIS) and the Intelligent Systems Lab (ISL) as advisory and resource centers, respectively, to support these endeavors. The ISL typically invites four to six students per semester to join the ISL Research Team. As ISL Research Team members, these students are expected to participate in all three focal areas of the IRIS mission. They participate in individual and team research projects, assist in the development and implementation of course workshops, and contribute to multiple outreach activities throughout the year. Hence, the ISL provides its team members with the opportunity to take on many roles, from researcher to educator. It is their role as educators that is the focus of this paper.