Explore!STEM @ UTSA: Introduction to Autonomous Driving

Summer 2023

About this Camp:

  1. The goal of this summer camp is to provide students with disabilities the opportunity to learn about STEM occupations through instruction and hands-on activities. In particular, this camp will provide hands-on activities to build autonomous driving AI computer programs.
  2. The students will learn basic computer programming concepts, programming skills, computer vision, and data science. Through these activities, we expect the students to gain the experience of working in two STEM fields: software engineering and data science.
  3. In addition to the above hands-on activities, speakers working in other STEM fields will be invited to interact with the students to learn more about working in STEM.
  4. This camp is supported by Texas Workforce Commission Vocational Rehabilitation.

Camp Dates:

  1. June 12-16, 2023

Camp Hours:

  1. 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Camp Location:

  1. UTSA North Paseo Building (NPB) 1.226, Map

Camp Cost:

  1. Free (this camp is supported by TWC VR).

Eligibility:

Please register with the following link

Camp Organizers

Syllabus -- Camp Objectives

  1. Learn the experience of working in STEM through hands-on activities.
  2. Learn Computer Programming with Python
  3. Learn Computer Vision and how it is used to detect lanes in self-driving cars
  4. Learn Machine Learning and how it is used to detect hand-written Digits
  5. Learn Machine Learning and how it is used to detect vehicles in self-driving cars
  6. Learn other fields of STEM, e.g., Chemistry, Computer Gaming and Geology.

Syllabus -- Topics and Schedule

The following syllabus gives the planned schedule of this camp. We will adjust this schedule based on our progress.

Day Topics Supplement Materials
Day 1: June 12th
Monday
9:00am - 9:15am:  Welcome and Staging
9:15am - 10:00am:  Camp Introduction
10:00am - 10:15am:  Break
10:15am - 11:30am:  Colab Setup
11:30am - 12:15pm:  Guest Speaker: Mechnical Engineer
12:15pm - 12:45pm:  Lunch Break
12:45pm - 13:15pm:  STEM Activity: Robot Dog
13:15pm - 14:00pm:  Additional Tutoring for students who need more time.
Pre-camp Assessment

Note: Videos are provided for self-study after regular camp sessions.
Video: Using Google Colab
Video: Colab Configuration and Execution

Colab File: My First Colab Program
Colab File: Basic Python Programming
Day 2: June 13th
Tuesday
9:00am - 9:15am:  Welcome and Staging
9:15am - 10:00am:  Basci Python Programming (part 1)
10:00am - 10:15am:  Break
10:15am - 11:30am:  Basic Python Programmig (part 2)
11:30am - 12:15pm:  Guest Speaker: Earth Science
12:15pm - 12:45pm:  Lunch Break
12:45pm - 13:15pm:  STEM Activity: Your Hi-5 Strength
13:15pm - 14:00pm:  Additional Tutoring for students who need more time.
Video: Share Colab File
Video: My First Program: Hello World
Video: Draw a Sin Curve in Colab
Video: Draw Word Cloud in Colab

Colab File: Basic Python Programming
Day 3: June 14th
Wednesday
9:00am - 9:15am:  Welcome and Staging
9:15am - 10:00am:  Basci Python Programming (part 3)
10:00am - 10:15am:  Break
10:15am - 11:30am:  Basic Python Programmig (part 4)
11:30am - 12:15pm:  Guest Speaker: Industrial Engineer
12:15pm - 12:45pm:  Lunch Break
12:45pm - 13:15pm:  STEM Activity: Paper Plane
13:15pm - 14:00pm:  Additional Tutoring for students who need more time.
Video: Python: Statement, Comments and Errors
Video: Python: Variables, Identifiers and Operators
Video: Python: Decision Making

Colab File: Basic Python Programming

Aerodynamics Videos:
Bernoulli's Principle
Wing lift
Day 4: June 15th
Thursday
9:00am - 9:15am:  Welcome and Staging
9:15am - 10:00am:  Lane Detection (part 1)
10:00am - 10:15am:  Break
10:15am - 11:30am:  Lane Detection (part 2)
11:30am - 12:15pm:  Guest Speaker: Panel
12:15pm - 12:45pm:  Lunch Break
12:45pm - 13:15pm:  STEM Activity: Generative AI
13:15pm - 14:00pm:  Additional Tutoring for students who need more time.
Video: Lane Detection (part 1)
Video: Lane Detection (part 2)

Colab File: Lane Detection
Day 5: June 16th
Friday
9:00am - 9:15am:  Welcome and Staging
9:15am - 10:00am:  Vehicle Detection (part 1)
10:00am - 10:15am:  Break
10:15am - 11:30am:  Vehicle Detection (part 2)
11:30am - 12:15pm:  Guest Speaker: VR Lab Tour
12:15pm - 12:45pm:  Lunch Break
12:45pm - 13:15pm:  STEM Activity: TBD
13:15pm - 14:00pm:  Additional Tutoring for students who need more time.
Video: How Does AI Detect Cars?
Video: Vehicle Detection (part 1)
Video: Vehicle Detection (part 2)

Colab File: Vehicle Detection

Post-camp Assessment