Communications of the ACM
A Star Is Born…With C Programming and Robots
The Robotics and Coding Academy run by the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering aims to inspire local children to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math careers.
Credit: Kayly Luong
The University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering's Robotics and Coding Academy (RCA) aims to inspire local children to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers, with its biannual contest showcasing programming skills.
The most recent competition last month culminated with teams vying to see whose robot could best trace the shape of a star.
The 13-week RCA program pairs children with USC Viterbi student mentors once weekly, to instruct them in computer science and coding basics; participants are equally split between boys and girls, with many from minorities underrepresented in STEM fields.
Students learn programming by inputting computer commands that direct actual robots.
Since RCA's launch, the area of instruction has shifted from drag-and-drop coding to more complex C programming language, and a cybersecurity element will be added for the upcoming spring session.
From USC Viterbi News
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