Teaching Microcontrollers with WALL-E

To help make one of the more difficult first-year engineering lectures on microcontrollers more engaging, I worked with teaching assistants to create a fully-functional 3D printed WALL-E robot based on open-source designs.

Similar to a show at Walt Disney World, myself and WALL-E would interact with each other and use humor to make the topic more engaging (e.g. WALL-E commenting that his rock band’s biggest hits are “Sweet Servo of Mine” and “Smell’s Like Clean Solder”). Given WALL-E's unique perspective, he approached the topic more from an anatomical perspective than a technological one. As an instructor, it challenged me to learn new skills like how to program closed captioning in slides, and it also gave me a chance to flex my voice acting skills!

I worked with ChatGPT to develop the script that was used in the presentation (attached to this card). After several revisions, I received feedback from my teaching assistants to see what kind of humor and interactions they would appreciate most. Once the script was finalized, I used free audio recording software, Audacity, to record and modify my voice to make it sound like WALL-E. Since WALL-E doesn't have a lot of spoken lines in his movie, I used the Battle Droids from Star Wars as a source of inspiration. The audio files were then embedded into the slides and programmed to be triggered at appropriate times. I also created the subtitle tracks based on feedback from my teaching assistants that sometimes WALL-E's voice was difficult to understand. After the script was finalized and implemented into the slide show, I met with the teaching assistants several times to practice the timing of the performance to ensure to make it as believable as possible that WALL-E was actually in the classroom giving a lecture.

After the lecture, the students were given short feedback survey. The students gave the class an average rating of 9/10 and one student had this to say about the class:

Professor Frank is by far the best professor/educator I’ve had. He is enthusiastically dedicated to his students and ensures that there is rarely-if ever a boring class. His attention to detail, such as coming up with a list of robot band names, is not lost on me or others. This class was above and beyond.

Here is a video of what the class looked like.

Instructor Tips

Think of this lecture like a performance. You will need a student or teaching assistant that will operate WALL-E while you engage with teaching the material and interacting with WALL-E. It will take practice to get everything just right to create the illusion that WALL-E is actually in the classroom and teaching the class.

In my first implementation, WALL-E's interactions were scripted, which means that he is unable to interact with students in real-time. However, using a voice modification app and a wireless speaker could allow for a student or teaching assistant to talk to the students and interact with them in real time.

One issue I ran into was how I announced the guest lecture. In an earlier class, I mentioned that we had an exciting guest lecturer that would be visiting in a future class. Some of the students were expecting someone from industry and were a bit disappointed that their expectations were not met. Fortunately, I did have several other guests who were scheduled to attend a later class where they gave feedback on the students projects. So managing the students' expectations is important when implementing this type of activity.

Learning Objectives

• Define what a microcontroller is and how it can used to solve engineering problems

• Learn about the different pieces of hardware that an interface with a microcontroller (servos, sensors, solenoids, etc.)

• Demonstrate a fundamental understanding of microcontroller programming basics including the components (functions, variables, conditions, etc.) and syntax of which it is comprised

Assessment

The learning objectives were assessed through a series of hands-on assignments that involve programming and wiring an Arduino microcontroller. Additionally, a survey was given to the students after the class to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Sample questions include:

Provide some feedback about today's class. What did you like? What did you not like? Was it engaging? Are there any ways I can make it better?

How would you rate today's class? (Scale of 1 to 10)