Lessons Learned: The Evolution of an Undergraduate Robotics Course in

I came across this fascinating paper documenting seven years of experience building and refining an undergraduate robotics course within a Computer Science curriculum, and it's packed with hard-won practical wisdom. Starting back in 2016, the author R. Pito Salas chronicles the full arc of the program's evolution — from initial goals and platform choices to the inevitable dead-ends and course corrections along the way. What I find most valuable here is the candid, longitudinal perspective: rather than presenting a polished snapshot of a program that already works, this paper honestly reflects on what changed and why. Key lessons cover everything from balancing depth versus breadth in syllabus design, to the importance of using physical robots, standardizing hardware and software configurations, and helping students navigate the notoriously steep robotics learning curve. Anyone thinking about bootstrapping a robotics program — or improving an existing one — would find real, actionable guidance here rather than just theoretical frameworks.