Jakarta, INTI – Growing interest in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) has encouraged Stanford University to introduce a creative solution through the course CS 123: A Practical Introduction to Building AI-Powered Robots. In this class, students design and build their own robot dog named Pupper, capable of walking, navigating, responding to human commands, and performing specific tasks.
From Challenges to Solutions: Making Robotics More Accessible
Robotics is often seen as complex and expensive. Stanford addresses this challenge through Pupper with a practical, hands-on approach. Students only need basic programming skills to begin. From there, they connect theory with practice, learning motor control, coding, and machine learning.
“The best way to inspire students to become robotics experts is to have them build a robot from scratch,” said Karen Liu, professor of computer science at Stanford.
A Unique Course with Industry Collaboration
The course, originally developed from a Stanford Robotics Club project, is now taught by Liu alongside Jie Tan from Google DeepMind and Stuart Bowers from Apple and Hands-On Robotics. Over ten weeks, students explore motor movement and control while applying AI to enhance robot performance.
The Pupper robots they build can walk, recognize their surroundings, and demonstrate intelligent behavior thanks to neural network integration.
Pupper: From Doggo to an Advanced AI Robot
Pupper evolved from an earlier project called Doggo, a four-legged robot designed to be affordable and easy to build. The latest version is more advanced, user-friendly, and engaging for students.
“Pupper is the perfect introductory platform simple for beginners, yet sophisticated enough to support advanced AI research,” Bowers explained.
The Grand Finale: Creative Robot Showcase
At the end of the quarter, students present their final projects in the “Dog and Pony Show.” In front of industry guests from companies like NVIDIA and Google, student teams showcase Pupper performing creative tasks such as navigating mazes and extinguishing simulated fires with a tiny water hose.
According to Liu, by this stage students have already mastered key foundations motion, computer vision, and language processing which they combine to develop cutting-edge physical intelligence in Pupper.
Toward the Future of AI Robotics
The instructors emphasize that AI and robotics integration is shaping the future of technology. Through this course, students not only learn theory but also bring their code to life through real robots.
“We believe now is the time to make AI and robotics accessible to more young learners,” said Bowers. “It starts at Stanford, but we hope to see it expand far beyond campus.”
Conclusion
The CS 123 course demonstrates that AI robotics can be taught in a fun, affordable, and practical way. What begins as lines of code on a screen is transformed by students into intelligent robots walking in the real world.
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