The QUT Robot Academy is celebrating its first birthday with its own impressive data set.
Since launching just 12 months ago, more than 36,000 students from around the world have logged almost 300,000 lesson views, across 13 different subject areas.
QUT Distinguished Professor, Peter Corke, who has collaborated with the University to develop the Robot Academy, said he was enormously proud of what had been achieved.
“Robotics is an exciting field in which to work and it is wonderful to be able to share that knowledge,” Professor Corke said.
“The QUT Robot Academy is an open, online, robotics education resource that provides more than 200 short lessons on specific robotics topics, including robot arms and computer vision, with courses at the equivalent of a second or third year university level.
“The fact that we are able to help people to master this subject material, any time of the day or night, and no matter where they are located in the world, is great news for the Robot Academy and it is also great news for the future of robotics,” he said.
Professor Corke said he was also encouraged by the demographics of those accessing the online lessons.
“It’s not surprising that most of our users are under-35, but what is interesting is that there is also a significant cohort in the 65-plus bracket. In addition to that, almost half of the overall number of users are female, which is much higher than an average university classroom,” Professor Corke said.
“It’s a very supportive environment. We offer transcripts of the material, to assist with revision, and quizzes for students to test their knowledge, and there’s also a very active Facebook community.
“The feedback from participants has been great and we are now looking at how we incorporate more formalised testing and provide a qualification upon completion,” he said.
There are also plans to grow the content offered by the Robot Academy, including lessons on mobile robots, which is the technology behind self-driving cars.
As part of QUT’s inaugural Giving Day, people can support the Robot Academy to expand, by donating at bit.ly/QUTGivingDay18
The QUT Robot Academy can be accessed at https://robotacademy.net.au/.
Media contact:
Rebecca Nardi, QUT Media, 3138 9449 or rebecca.nardi@qut.edu.au
After hours: Rose Trapnell 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au
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QUT is part of a national collaborative group of five major Australian universities that form the ATN (Australian Technology Network of Universities).
