CoDrone Curriculum
By Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy
Take Flight with CMRA’s New CoDrone Curriculum
The Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy (CMRA) is excited to announce the launch of our latest educational resource: Drone Operations with CoDrone. This curriculum is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in the rapidly growing field of drone technology.
Today, drones serve far more advanced purposes than simply being remote-controlled cameras. They play crucial roles in various industries, including agriculture, where they monitor crop health and optimize irrigation, in logistics for delivering packages to remote areas, and in emergency response, aiding in search and rescue operations. Drones are also utilized in environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection, and even wildlife conservation. The Drone Operations with CoDrone curriculum is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in these real-world applications. By teaching not just the basics of flying a drone but also how to operate, maintain, and troubleshoot these complex machines, the curriculum ensures that students are well-prepared to meet the demands of modern industries where drones are an essential tool.
Drones are becoming a key tool in many fields, like farming and wildlife conservation, and CMRA is dedicated to helping students become the next wave of creative thinkers and problem-solvers. Our new curriculum, built around the CoDrone, gives students a fun and interactive way to explore drone technology through hands-on activities and real-world applications.
Often, small robots like drones are operated and maintained by the same person, known as an "optainer" (short for "operator-maintainer"). This dual role requires a unique set of skills, combining the ability to effectively pilot the drone with the technical know-how to troubleshoot, repair, and maintain the equipment. This course uses a series of carefully structured labs and the CoDrone EDU platform to teach the key skills needed for both operating and maintaining drones, with a special emphasis on quadcopter UAV basics.
The Drone Operations with CoDrone curriculum is thoughtfully designed to guide students from the fundamentals of drone assembly and flight to more advanced topics like autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance. The course includes daily ~30-minute tasks that keep students highly engaged in both routine and non-routine settings.
Key Features of the CoDrone Curriculum
Hands-On Learning: Students build and program their drones, gaining practical experience in UAV operations.
Coding Integration: The curriculum introduces coding through both block-based and text-based programming languages, enabling students to control their drones and perform complex tasks.
Real-World Applications: Lessons are designed to connect drone technology to real-world scenarios, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
The Drone Operations with CoDrone curriculum is now available to schools, after-school programs, and robotics clubs. Educators interested in adopting this curriculum can find more information on the Robot Operations with CoDrone EDU,where they can access materials to help them get started.