Integration of Micromouse project with undergraduate curriculum: a large-scale student participation approach

This paper describes a successful integration of the Micromouse project with regular undergraduate courses at California State University, Fullerton. A micromouse is a computer controlled autonomous mobile robot which can find a predetermined destination when placed in an unknown maze. The goals of this paper are to report a complete design example suitable for large-scale student participation and to discuss the benefits of the program from an educator´s view point. The Intel 8088 microprocessor was chosen to make the mouse compatible with the PC systems which are universally available. Two stepping motors and eight optical sensors are used to complete the system. Software is written in C and Assembly language with over 2000 lines. Seven micromice have been built since 1990 and several of these mice have won several awards in the IEEE Region Six Southern California competition. Integration of the project with the conventional curriculum has been very successful in motivating students and keeping their interest high. Students show greater enthusiasm for classroom activities and many continue to participate in the project after the semester is over