Publications by Francesco Mondada

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This paper presents a case-study on the performance achieved by the mechanical interactions of self-assembling mobile robots. This study is based on the hand-bot robot, designed to operate within heterogeneous swarms of robots. The hand-bot is specialized ...

In recent years, the emphasis on computational thinking (CT) has intensified as an effect of accelerated digitalisation. While most researchers are concentrating on defining CT and developing tools for its instruction and assessment, we focus on the charac ...

Biohybrid systems in which robotic lures interact with animals have become compelling tools for probing and identifying the mechanisms underlying collective animal behavior. One key challenge lies in the transfer of social interaction models from simulatio ...

Debugging is a critical component of computational thinking and an essential skill for problem-solving. Over the past decade, national school curricula have started to include debugging practices, underscoring its importance, but to date there is no standardized assessment method available. Similarly, research on debugging assessment is scarce and the solutions brought forth lack scalability and accessibility to be applied in K-12 education. This workshop addresses this gap by introducing a novel game-based

With the increasing importance of Computational Thinking (CT) at all levels of education, it is essential to have valid and reliable assessments. Currently, there is a lack of such assessments in upper primary school. That is why we present the development ...

Prior research shows that how students engage with Large Language Models (LLMs) influences their problem-solving and understanding, reinforcing the need to support productive LLM-uses that promote learning. This study evaluates the impact of a structured GPT platform designed to promote “good” prompting behavior with data from 58 students in a graduate-level robotics course. The students were assigned to either an intervention group using the structured platform or a control group using ChatGPT freely for t

Robotic agents that are accepted by animals as conspecifics are very powerful tools in behavioral biology because of the ways they help in studying social interactions in gregarious animals. In recent years, we have developed a biomimetic robotic fish lure ...

A methodology for evolving the control systems of autonomous robots has not yet been well established. In this paper we will show different examples of applications of evolutionary robotics to real robots by describing three different approaches to develop neural controllers for mobile robots. In all the experiments described real robots are involved and are indeed the ultimate means of evaluating the success and the results of the procedures employed. Each approach will be compared with the others and the

A device for sorting biological entities is disclosed. The device comprises a channel to canalize the biological entities and a selector having slots to accommodate said entities. Means for detecting and analysing an optical parameter of the biological ent ...

Educational Robotics holds the potential to promote the development of important 21st century skills, such as creativity and problem-solving skills in addition to digital literacy. However, the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has posed particular obstac ...

Computational thinking is a fundamental competence that is being introduced in K-12 and succeeding curricula worldwide. Despite this huge effort, many computational thinking models in the literature do not explicitly take into consideration the pupils’ age ...

This paper describes the newly started EU-funded FP7 project ASSISI|bf, which deals with mixed societies: A honeybee society integrated with a group of stationary and interacting autonomous robotic nodes and a group of fish integrated in a society of auton ...

"Ranger" is a robotic box designed to motivate young children to tidy up the toys in their rom. It explores the idea of integrating robotics into daily life objects, such as a wooden box. The box shows light and sound when toys are put inside or removed. We carried out a series of field experiments (Wizard-of-Oz) with 14 families to evaluate the first prototype of Ranger. The robot was operated showing two different behaviors: an active or a passive one. We found that the robot's behavior had an impact on h

While Computational Thinking (CT) has long been a foundational concept in computer science education, the increasing prominence of AI in modern curricula requires exploring if and how AI concepts can be incorporated into CT-based curricula. This study systematically examines the relationship between AI concepts and CT principles by analyzing five widely recognized AI educational frameworks. Key AI concepts are identified, categorized into thematic groups, and if possible mapped to CT elements. The findings

We provide an overview of the evolutionary approach to the emergence of artificial intelligence in embodied behavioral agents. This approach, also known as Evolutionary Robotics, builds and capitalizes upon the interactions between the embodied agent and its environment. Although we cover research carried out in several laboratories around the world, the choice of topics and approaches is based on work carried out at EPFL. We describe a large number of experiments including evolution of single robots in env

Multi-robot systems have been studied in tasks that require the robots to be physically linked. In such a configuration, a group of robots may navigate a terrain that proves too difficult for a single robot. On the contrary, many collective tasks can be ac ...

Modern computing has enhanced our understanding of how social interactions shape collective behaviour in animal societies. Although analytical models dominate in studying collective behaviour, this study introduces a deep learning model to assess social in ...

Contribution: While previous research has studied the use of educational robotics in classrooms, there is still a lack of methods to support the development and evaluation of such tools. To this end, this paper presents an evaluation framework and a corres ...

Background Early exposure to Computer Science (CS) and Computational Thinking (CT) for all is critical to broaden participation and promote equity in the field. But how does the introduction of CS and CT into primary school curricula impact learning, perce ...

Francesco Mondada

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Physical interactions in swarm robotics: the hand-bot case study

FADE-CTP: A Framework for the Analysis and Design of Educational Computational Thinking Problems

Quantifying the biomimicry gap in biohybrid robot-fish pairs

Debugging Assessment Workshop

The competent Computational Thinking Test: Development and Validation of an Unplugged Computational Thinking Test for Upper Primary School

Structured Prompts, Better Outcomes? Exploring the Effects of a Structured Interface with ChatGPT in a Graduate Robotics Course

Follow the dummy: measuring the influence of a biomimetic robotic fish-lure on the collective decisions of a zebrafish shoal inside a circular corridor

How to Evolve Autonomous Robots: Different Approaches in Evolutionary Robotics

Device and method for sorting biological entities

Accessible Maker-based Approaches to Educational Robotics in Online Learning

The CT-cube: A framework for the design and the assessment of computational thinking activities

ASSISI: Mixing Animals with Robots in a Hybrid Society

How Children Tidy up Their Room with "Ranger" the Robotic Box

Reframing Computational Thinking for AI Education

Evolution of Embodied Intelligence

Autonomous Self-assembly in a Swarm-bot

Reframing Computational Thinking for AI Education

Predicting the long-term collective behaviour of fish pairs with deep learning

Heuristics for the Development and Evaluation of Educational Robotics Systems

How are primary school computer science curricular reforms contributing to equity? Impact on student learning, perception of the discipline, and gender gaps