Developing Curricula for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics


Work packages

WP:

WPSummary

Name:

Summary of DeCAIR Project Work Packages

Leader:

Description:

Tasks:

WP:

WP 1

Name:

Surveys and Needs Identification

Leader:

Jordan University of Science and Technology

Description:

The first work package in the DeCAIR project “Surveys and Needs Identification” is concerned with conducting a set of surveying tasks to collect the information necessary to execute the other tasks in the project to achieve its objectives.

Tasks:

Achievements
• Surveyed the needs for AI and Robotics expertise and professionals in Jordan and Lebanon.
• Surveyed and evaluated similar AI and robotics master programs
• Surveyed and evaluated AI and robotics courses in similar bachelor programs
• Identified the training needs for staff members in universities of partner countries under three main training categories: namely, Artificial Intelligence, Data Sciences and Big Data, and Robotics.
• Surveyed the needs of facilities and labs equipment and prepared a preliminary list of required items to be procured and a tender call was issued.

WP:

WP 2

Name:

Development of New MSc and BSc Programs in AI and Robotics

Leader:

The University of Genoa

Description:

The second work package’s objective is to define the structure and design of the curricula for the newly proposed master and bachelor programs to be established in UJ and TTU related to AI and robotics. The WP work is conducted based on the findings that are identified in WP1 report. The work is carried out through two focus groups (one for AI and another for Robotics) formed from experts in their respective fields with feedback from all project partners

Tasks:

Achievements
• Proposed and finalized a curriculum for the BSc Program in Intelligent Systems Engineering at Tafila Technical University.
• Proposed and finalized a curriculum for the MSc Program in AI and Robotics at the University of Jordan.
• Developed and finalized the syllabi for the courses of the above two programs.
• Secured all required approvals for the BSc program and the MSc program reached the final step by the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission for Higher Education Institutes.

WP:

WP 3

Name:

Implementing the New MSc Program in the University of Jordan

Leader:

University of Jordan

Description:

The new MSc program in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics accepted its first students in the First Semester of the Academic year 2022/2023. The program was officially launched under the patronage of HE Prof. Nathir Obeidat on Thursday 8th September 2022.

Tasks:

WP:

WP 4

Name:

Implementing the New BSc Program in Tafilah Technical University

Leader:

Tafila Technical University

Description:

Tasks:

Achievements
• The BSc Program in Intelligent Systems Engineering at Tafila Technical University started accepting students on the developed curriculum in the Academic year 2021/2022.

WP:

WP 5

Name:

Improving Existing MSc Programs in Jordan and Lebanon by Implementing or Including AI and Robotics Courses

Leader:

University of Stuttgart

Description:

The goal of work package five is to improve four existing master programs in Jordan and Lebanon by implementing or including AI and Robotics courses into existing curricula. The work is based on the results
of the surveys conducted in WP1. The main aim of this WP is to develop syllabi and content for added and/or modified courses while taking into consideration the work conducted in WP2. All syllabi are designed and
reviewed based on feedback from all involved partners.

Tasks:

Achievements
• Introduced four new courses in the University of Jordan’s MSc program in Computer Engineering and Networks: Applied ML, Applied Data Science, Computer Vision, and Computational Intelligence.
• Introduced the Advanced Robotic course at the Lebanese University MSc program in Robotics and Intelligent Systems
• Introduced four new courses in the Beirut’s Arab University MSc program in Computer Engineering: Cognitive Robotics, Computational Aspects of Robotics, Reinforcement Learning, and Autonomous Systems.
• Improved and updated current courses in the MSc program in Mechanical Engineering - Mechatronics (JUST), the Robotics and Intelligent Systems (LU), and Computer Engineering (BAU).

WP:

WP 6

Name:

Improving Existing B.Sc. Programs in Jordan and Lebanon by Implementing or Including AI and Robotics Courses

Leader:

University of Granada

Description:

The goal of work package six is to improve existing bachelor programs in Jordan and Lebanon by implementing or including AI and robotics courses into existing curricula. The work is based on the results of
the surveys conducted in WP1. The main aim of this WP is to develop syllabi and content for added and/or modified courses while taking into consideration the work conducted in WP2. All syllabi are designed and reviewed based on feedback from all involved partners.

Tasks:

Achievements
• The BSc program in Computer Engineering at UJ added and updated mandatory and elective courses in the most recent curricula that support the Robotics track such as Computer Control Systems and Mobile Robots, as well as introduced Robot OS (ROS) as a case study in the Modern Operating Systems course.
• The BSc program in Computer Engineering at UJ introduced mandatory and elective courses in the most recent curricula that support the AI track such AI and Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Computational Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, and Data Science.
• The BSc program in mechatronics engineering at UJ added the mandatory Robotics Systems Course to their program.
• The University of Jordan of Science and Technology (JUST) updated the AI program track at the Computer Science Department.
• Tafila Technical University introduced and updated a list of AIR-related mandatory and elective courses for three BSc programs at (BSc in Intelligent Systems Engineering, BSc in Computer Engineering, and BSc in Mechatronics Engineering).
• Beirut Arab University (BAU) added Deep Learning and Machine Learning as elective courses to their BSc program and updated their Introductory Programming course.
• The Lebanese University (LU) added the Robotics, Sensors and IoT, and Computer Vision courses to their current BSc program in Electrical Engineering.

WP:

WP 7

Name:

Building Capacity in AI and Robotics in Universities of Partner Countries

Leader:

University of Pisa

Description:

The goal of this work package is to offer specialized training to faculty members in partner universities on up-to-date topics pertaining to the newly proposed or modified courses offered in the respective MSc and
BSc programs. Training entails both the technical aspect of the course and the transfer of knowledge of teaching such topics to students given the experience of European partners. Due to the ongoing pandemic
and travel restrictions, all training conducted thus far was mostly online.

Tasks:

Achievements
• An online training course on the Python Programming Language was organized by the University of Genoa and presented by Alberto Cabrio / Vega Research Laboratories (July – August 2021)
• An online training course on Robotic Operating Systems was organized by the University of Pisa and offered by Alessandro Settimi (November – December 2021)
• An online training course on Introduction to Machine Learning was organized by the University of Genoa and offered by Stefano Rovetta (February 2022)
• An online training course on Introduction to Data Science was organized by the University of Granada and offered by Jorge Casillas (February 2022)
• An advanced hybrid training course (in-person and online) was organized by the University of Granada and offered by a team of experts: Prof. Manuel Pegalajar-Cuellar, Prof. Daniel Molina Cabrera, Prof. Alberto Fernández, Prof. Salvador García, and Mr. Germán González (May 2022). The training covered the following topics:
   − Time Series with Python
   − Supervised and Unsupervised Learning with Python
   − Learning from imbalanced data with
   − Singular learning problems with Python
   − Data Pre-processing with Python
• Two hybrid workshops (in-person and online) were organized by the University of Genoa / Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics, and Systems Engineering (July 2022). The courses were given by Prof. Nicoletta Noceti and Prof. Francesca Odone:
   − Introduction to NNs, CNNs, Autoencoders, GANs, RNNs, and Transformers.
   − Introduction to computer vision, digital signals and images, image filters and features, CNNs for image classification, and motion/depth estimation.
*A three-day practical training course was organized by the Institute for Technical and Computational Mechanics (ITM) at the University of Stuttgart (October 2022) on Control Systems and Robotics and Knowledge Transfer on Practical Teaching Methods. The training comprised of four experiments with focus given on teaching methods, assessment, and experiment development. The four experiments were related to Mobile robotics, Railway Locomotive Distance Control, Balancing Ball on a Rim and Pendulum movement control.

WP:

WP 8

Name:

Establishing AI and Robotics Laboratories in Universities of Partner Countries

Leader:

Beirut Arab University

Description:

To support the current AIR courses in both the BSc and MSc programs at partner universities, the current labs must be updated with new equipment to support the course and program outcomes. The goal of this work
package is to identify which labs must be updated or created, as well as which hardware and software packages must be procured and licensed. The hardware includes computer systems with sufficient computational power
to run modern AI applications, specialized development kits to support both AI and Robotic systems, as well as robots and robotic arms.

Tasks:

Achievements
• A comprehensive list of required hardware software was finalized.
• A call for tender was announced for the required equipment by UJ for the three Jordanian partners (UJ, JUST, and TTU). Offers were received and studied, and orders for two thirds of the needed equipment were made, and many of these equipment have already been received.
• Two calls for tenders were also announced for new equipment at LU and BAU (Lebanon) and many of these equipment have already been received.

WP:

WP 9

Name:

Implementing Modern Teaching Methods in the MSc Programs

Leader:

University of Jordan

Description:

The goal of this work package is to implement modern teaching/learning methods such as flipped learning and project-based learning in AIR courses. The work package will identify which modern learning method is suitable for each course. Knowledge transfer in teaching AIR courses at European universities and implementing modern learning techniques will be prime activities in this package.

Tasks:

WP:

Wp 10

Name:

Quality Assurance

Leader:

Creative Thinking Development

Description:

Project Quality Assurance aims to ensure that the current project will meet the expected results in the most efficient way, and that deliverables will be reviewed and accepted by the relevant stakeholders. It involves overseeing all activities needed to maintain a desired level of excellence. This includes creating and implementing quality planning and assurance, as well as quality control and quality improvement. The proposed activities for this work package include developing the selection criteria for the master students that will be enrolled in the program, and the national accreditation of the new/modified courses for existing programs. This package will collect relevant information through surveys to monitor the program progress and identify any shortcomings to quickly handle them.

Tasks:

Achievements
• All bachelor engineering programs at the University of Jordan had their ABET accreditation renewed for the 2022 – 2028 cycle.
• Finalized all internal evaluation forms for project meetings, deliverables, syllabi, training, events, and the yearly evaluation forms and the quality control plan.
• Assigned an external auditor evaluator from the EU.
• Conducted frequent surveys and regularly analysed the result and assessed them regarding the quality metrics agreed upon.

WP:

WP 11

Name:

Collaboration with Industry and Community

Leader:

Lebanese University

Description:

The goal of this package is to organize awareness workshops in Jordan and Lebanon in AI and Robotics, and meetings to streamline problem identification and solution among industry and academia. This will allow for future collaboration between local industries and academia and promote solving real-life problems utilizing the help of academic experts in their respective fields, while offering hand-on experience for graduate and undergraduate students.

Tasks:

Achievements
• DeCAIR organized an event in Genoa where AI demos implemented at the University of Genoa were presented. Furthermore, industrial Italian companies and spin-offs operating in the AI field presented their state-of-the-art projects utilizing AI and Robots. The Companies' presentations and UNIGE research groups demos can be found in the links below:

Event Link 1: Companies Presentations Part One
https://youtu.be/nwCfqWMK3xA

Event Link 2: Companies Presentations Part Two
https://youtu.be/w9qR4tLRwTs

Event Link 3: UNIGE Research Groups
https://youtu.be/1uqmM_Gu-mE


• DeCAIR organized a workshop in Lebanon on 2nd March that focused on the best practices in collaboration between academia and industry. Talks delivered from the industry include ones by AI Labs, ITEC Industrial Technologies, Zeenni’s Trading Agency among others. The workshop included a round-table discussion on how to sustain academia and industry collaboration.

Even Link: Lebanon Collaboration With Industry Workshop
https://youtu.be/qQngnteEu20

• DeCAIR organized a workshop entitled “Establishing and Reinforcing the Collaboration between Industry and Academia” on Thursday, March 31st, 2022. The workshop focused on collaboration in the field of AI and Robotics and included talks by the Italian soft Robotics company "Joint", Al-Jawdah Company for Business Solutions, and the Director of the Faculty for Factory (FFF) project at UJ.

Even Link: Jordan Collaboration With Industry Workshop
https://youtu.be/yMuZ85sbAuU

WP:

WP 12

Name:

Results Dissemination

Leader:

Lebanese University

Description:

To raise awareness about the DeCAIR project, a dedicated website was launched (DeCAIR), as well as social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. All these social accounts can be accessed from the top right corner of this website. You can also check them from these links:

DeCAIR FB Page:
https://www.facebook.com/DeCAIR-326630305427368

DeCAIR Twitter Account:
https://twitter.com/DecairJ

DeCAIR Instagram Account:
https://www.instagram.com/decair2020/

DeCAIR YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdBcy98rrS4rimkALGoFmRw/featured

The first newsletter was issued in March 2022 as part of a set of bi-annual planned newsletters to raise awareness of the project and its continuous progress, followed by a second newsletter in September 2022. You can find the program newsletters from the Dissemination Menu at the top of this site


The new MSc program in AI and Robotics at UJ was officially launched on September 8th, 2022 under the patronage of HE Prof. Nathir Obeidat under wide and extensive media coverage. A brochure was prepared for the new MSc program in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Also, an Introductory video on the new program was released for this event. Similarily, TTU produced a video for their new B.Sc program in Intelligent Systems Engineering.

M.Sc. AIR Program Opening Introductory Video:
https://youtu.be/mWSSkYxLwWg

B.Sc. ISE Program Opening Introductory Video:
https://youtu.be/a4WeZC4aPhc


Tafila Technical University held a DeCAIR Info Day to introduce the program, its goals, aims, and outcomes. The event was covered TTU FB Page as well as local newspaper. Similarly, Jordan University of Science and Technology held a dissemination event on DeCAIR project.

Also, during the IEEE Jordan Section and IEEE Computer Society Workshops that was held covering topics related to AI, and many similar workshops, the project coordinator always presented the DeCAIR project goals and aims.

IEEE CS Workshop Link:
https://youtu.be/a4WeZC4aPhc

Tasks:

WP:

WP 13

Name:

Project Managment

Leader:

University of Jordan

Description:

The "Development Curricula for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (DeCAIR)" project involves many European, Jordanian, and Lebanese Partners as well as project associates. The kick-off meeting of the "Development Curricula for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (DeCAIR)" project was virtually held on January 19th, 2021. During the meeting, DeCAIR General Coordinator, Prof. Gheith Abandah from the University of Jordan, presented a general summary of the project, which included the objectives and importance of DeCAIR. Abandah also reviewed the main stages of implementing the project, the main work packages of the project and their distribution among the partners to guarantee the best possible results. Furthermore, the coordinators of the ten partners gave overviews about their universities and their capabilities, especially in the field of AIR. Thirty-three participants attended the meeting, including representatives from each of the ten partner universities, a representative of the Erasmus Plus office in Jordan, and a representative of the Erasmus Plus office in Lebanon.

During the kick-off meeting, and the first steering committee meeting, the committee members and project leaders were selected to manage the project plans and tasks, and their roles and responsibilities were defined:
• Steering Committee
• Quality Committee
• Quality Manager
• Project Coordinator
• Work Package Leaders

The steering committee meets regularly (at the beginning monthly, then bi-monthly) to manage and review the progress of each work package and advise on the next steps. All meetings are recorded.

Tasks: