Development of a Cloud Robotic Testbed for IT Capstone Projects

This paper describes the curriculum of the three year IT undergraduate program at La Trobe University, and the faculty requirements in designing a capstone subject, followed by the ACM's recommended IT curriculum covering the five pillars of the IT discipline. Cloud robotics, a broad multidisciplinary research area, requires expertise in all five pillars with mechatronics, is an ideal candidate to offer capstone experiences to IT students. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a long term master project in developing a cloud robotics testbed, with many capstone sub-projects spanning across the five IT pillars, to meet the objectives of capstone experience. This paper also describes the design and implementation of the testbed, and proposes potential capstone projects for students with different interests. Index Terms—Cloud robotics, networked robotics, Internet of Things, capstone projects, IT education.

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