Modern robotics engineering instruction

We discuss three basic principles of modern robotics education and contrast the traditional teaching style used in a majority of engineering classes with that necessary for a rapidly developing field such as robotics. Our basic tenet is that a modern robotic engineer must have knowledge, experience, and insight. While traditional education methods focus on knowledge and experience through the standard lecture-laboratory cycle, we submit that insight is the key to a complete robotics education. We conjecture that insight cannot be gained from textbooks, lectures, and laboratory exercises alone, as these tend to focus on merely academic rather than global and social issues. We present a discussion of the techniques used at the United States Naval Academy to inform, educate, and motivate students in the field of robotics.