’It’s a really cool place’: University of Toronto Mississauga students get hands-on experience in new robotics teaching lab

Students and visitors get a hands-on demonstration during the official opening of U of T Mississauga's Undergraduate Robotics Teaching Laboratory - Laura Maldonado  beams as she describes her first day learning in University of Toronto Mississauga's Undergraduate Robotics Teaching Laboratory. "It's a really cool place," she says, as she takes out her phone to show a video of one of the lab's robots in action. "We actually play with these robots and get hands-on experience." The computer science specialist student was among the first group of undergraduates in the third-year Fundamentals of Robotics class to use the new lab, which officially opened its doors on Sept. Jessica Burgner-Kahrs , an associate professor in the department of mathematical and computational sciences who spearheaded the lab's creation, said the lab will be used primarily for computer science students who take robotics courses in their third and fourth years. However, the lab will also be available to the broader University of Toronto community - including graduate students in computer science, mechanical engineering and aerospace studies, says Burgner-Kahrs, who is cross-appointed to the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and the department mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering; and is founding director of the  Continuum Robotics Laboratory. She adds that it will also be a resource for the University of Toronto Robotics Institute , where she is an associate director.