Sep 13 2007
Raise your hand if you’d like a pet robot…
Published by Jason Welker at 8:26 pm under
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WikipediaRevenge of the Frosh-Seeking Robots — The American, A Magazine of Ideas
So this article jumped out at me for a couple of reasons. First, it makes this somewhat startling observation:
…elite schools are reporting that the number of economics majors is exploding. For the 2003–2004 academic year, the number of economics degrees granted by U.S. colleges and universities increased 40 percent from five years previously. Economics is seen by bright undergraduates as the path to a high-paying job on Wall Street or at a major corporation.
A 40% increase in the number of econ majors is incredible! I don’t know whether to be flattered that so many young people find the field interesting or frightened that in a few years there will be tens of thousands of fresh, eager economists out there on the job market, against whom I’m sure I’ll end up competing for jobs in economics education!
Besides the impact on the job market for economists, this article really focuses on the decline in numbers of computer science majors, and describes Microsoft’s plan to make the major more appealing to bright freshman once more.
The number of smart kids studying computer science peaked a few years ago and has dropped dramatically since. The number of new computer science majors today has fallen by half since 2000, according to the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.
Think of the market for computer scientists and the market for economists. What impact do the above data have on these two job markets? What do you think will happen to the wages paid to economists in the next four or five years? What about wages paid to computer scientists? In which market would you predict a shortage? A surplus?
In an attempt to make computer science more exciting for incoming freshman, the brains at Microsoft have piloted a program to give every freshman who studies comp sci their own pet robot:
Research formed a partnership with Bryn Mawr, the venerable liberal-arts women’s college near Philadelphia, and Georgia Tech, a traditional technical university. The three jump-started a $2 million pilot program called the Institute for Personal Robots in Education that is developing an easily programmable tabletop robotic device to introduce to first-year computer science students.
The prototype I saw in May looks like a miniature space-age chariot, with two wheels and a Bluetooth wireless receiver on top. The developers want to keep the cost under $200 and offer it in college bookstores with a first-year textbook.
Within the first weeks of a class, students will be able to write elementary code that prompts the robot to do simple tasks like drive forward or back. But even simple code-writing with immediate, physical results like this can have an impact that energizes students. Or so it is hoped. Eventually, students can write more complex code—programming their personal robots to emulate a moth.
Do you think this pet robot program will lead to more comp sci majors? What are you thinking of studying in college? Why might economics be a bad choice right now? (Did I just say that?!)
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About the author: Jason Welker is a teacher at Zurich International School in Switzerland, where he teaches Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Economics. Jason was an international school student in Malaysia before studying economics at Seattle University then earning his Masters in Education. He calls Seattle and Northern Idaho home. In addition to maintaining an economics wiki and this blog for economics student and educators, Jason also gives presentations on using Web 2.0 tools in education at workshops and conferences around the world. His economics wiki won the 2007 "Best Educational Wiki" award from the "EduBlog Awards". 
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I think that the robot would spark interest in students, but I don’t think it would cause a high increase in the number of computer science majors. If in the future there are too many economic majors out there competing for a job, I would think that the competition would cause a decrease in the amount paid to the people who have economic majors. With less computer science majors out there in the future, they would be paid more than the economic majors because of less competition in that field. So, eventually, I would think more people would want to become computer science majors, but it will not likely be mostly due to the introduction of the pet robot.
Oh wow this is fascinating! It’s nice to think that there are actually different fields (IT vs. finance) out there that are fighting over students like us once we get out of college… assuming that we’re also part of those high-IQ people they’re looking for. =S Since there are more and more economics majors right now, I think that the wages paid for economists will become lower in the next few years, while the wages paid for computer scientists will increase because of higher demand and decreased supply. There’s a surplus in econ majors and a shortage in computer experts. The pet robot program idea is pretty innovative, and I actually do think that it might prompt some more people to become interested in comp sci because they can see that it isn’t just boring programming. However, I predict that what will really make people change majors more is probably the knowledge that there’s high demand for compsci majors and less competition than that in the field of economics; when people realize this, they’ll want to switch to computer science in hopes of getting higher-paying computer science jobs quicker and more easily than in the field of finance.
Haha, Alice, we’re DEFINATELY the high-IQ people they’re looking for ^^.
Anyway, I also find it interesting that two very different fields are actually fighting over students. This “pet” robot is just a means to convert more students to major in computer science. Of course, like Alice said, it actually has the potential to do just that, since robot + programming = fun (at least in my opinion). In any case, students unsure what to major in can see that computer science is not always about complicated formulas and circuits.
However, Alice is right yet again (dang you for stealing it all!); that because students have become econ majors under the view that they will receive a high-paying job, some of those who have a similar mindset will realize that if the number of economists becomes overwhelming, computer science wages will eventually be higher than those of economic-based careers. Of course, the robot design might help to motivate or at least interest students in majoring in computer science, possibly creating an “equilibrium.” I guess only time will tell.
Well honestly I have to say that the pet robot is a very good incentive there I mean I would totally think twice about entering the field just because of that added incentive.
On the topic of econ majors, i think the people above me have pretty much said all that needs to be said. I would just like to add that one of the biggest reasons people choose a career path is for the pay, although of course enjoying your field has something to do with it too. With the pay of economists decreasing due to the surplus of econ majors, studying economics suddenly becomes much less lucrative, while studying compsci has the higher pay and easier job offers AS WELL AS that awesome pet robot haha
wow, as kevin said, i’m definitely thinking about comp sci major now. it would be pretty cool to program your robot to do things according to your own interests. The programs don’t even have to be that complicated. As for the increasing economics majors and the decreasing computer science majors, obviously after a number of years, when the college students enter the proffessional workforce, the demand for econ graduates will decrease dramatically. Then the pay for econ majors will decrease, and people will stop choosing economics for majors and go for something that’ll bring them more money. That’s how life works.
Although the idea of using a robot to spark interest in technology is original and fun, there is the chance that it could backfire. It seems that we are encouraged to study subjects that have a great deal of practicality in the real world. By practicality I mean a job that will be secure and bring in a good income. If a person builds a robot and has fun doing it, they may see the project as only that - something fun. They may disregard a robot as just a novelty project instead of inspiration for a career in technology. Still, I hope that this project will encourage those who are truly passionate about computer science into choosing the path that they enjoy.
I agree with the assertion that immediate physical reaction to one’s code is important for stimulating the student’s interest in the field of computer science. I think that this robot won’t do much help; computer science presently doesn’t dramatically change human lives like they did, for example, a decade ago. When Microsoft issued its Windows 95 and 98, that was probably the peak of computer science. Now, we get crappier, less functional versions of it like Vista. It’s just simply not as fresh as before (think T in the determinants of demand).
Personally, I’m going to major in math, not like you couldn’t figure that out already. People are always expecting me to be some genius investment banker or something. That robot is something I would just fool around with (see bottom of post).
Why is it bad to become an econ major now? I would mathematically model it, but I won’t. In layman’s terms, it’s simply because the jobs don’t increase as fast as the number of majors. I doubt there’s a 40% increase in jobs.
I bet all of you know what I would get a pet robot to do… (hint: 6 sides, 6 colors)
I feel that this new and unique creative approach to education will have a pretty strong impact on the average student. I believe that this pet robot program will lead to probably only slightly more majors in the computer science department ,however it will also make the experience an original one, compared to all those lectures by teachers. Because of the dramatic increase in the number of economic majors the chances of getting a job in the future is only made more competitive with these numbers. Like mentioned about the number of economics majors will also affect the overall wages to be set in the future making it extremely challenging.
The idea of a pet robot sounds pretty sweet to me. I think it will influence some kids to major in computer science, but ultimately its affect will not be very large. Sure it is a cool, new concept but just because of the robot every student is not going to want to study computer science. Business and economics is the trend nowadays and most people associate nerds without social lifes with computer science. Although this robot is an increase in technology, consumers, or in this case students, will still not want to study computer science because of their tastes and preferences. Nonetheless, it is likely their will be a small increase in the number of computer science students becuase of this new program, and the fact that more computer science jobs will be available.
This idea of a “robot pet” seems intersting (although I wouldn’t want one myself). But will this increase the number of students majoring in computer science? Probably not. Considering the fact that an overflow of students majoring in econ, and not enough students majoring in computer science, it will be wise for students to choose the major that is less competitive. If they knew the statistics of the numbers of people majoring in each subject, they would see that in the future, the pay for computer science majors would be higher that the pay for econ majors because science majors are “scarce”. I think students who can think about this will be likely to choose computer science than econ.
I also think the “pet robot” idea as quite innovative and interesting. Eventhough I’ve seen and heard of varieties of moving-robots before, I think this is my first time reading about pet robots. This creative idea will be an usuful tool to attract many students to major computer science. Moreover, once students start majoring computer science, these pet robots will motivate them to work harder in computer science. This is because pets always stay close to people, and the students will slowly think about improving the pets into ones with higher artificial intelligence so they can have conversation in varieties of areas. However, as what Michael have said, this new idea might be interesting to only few people, mostly girls, who have intersts in pets. I think the best way to attract students to major computer science is professor themselves become a successful men and show students that majoring computer science can lead into a successive life.
Do you think this pet robot program will lead to more comp sci majors? What are you thinking of studying in college? Why might economics be a bad choice right now?
Since there are a lot of freshmen eager to study economics and relatively fewer people who wants to major in comp sci, the supply of econ majors will exceed the demand for them and create surplus of econ majors, thus making them have difficulty finding jobs. Meanwhile, comp sci majors will get a job more easily than econ majors do because the demand for comp sci exceeds the supply of comp sci, creating shortage for comp sci majors. If the students can truly see the marginal benefit in the future of majoring in economics is smaller than the opportunity cost in the future, they should major in comp sci rather than economics. Robot programming might be a good way to attract students to comp sci major, but is not the best way. Universities should show the students benefits that they gain by majoring in comp sci are greater than those of economics.
I actually went to see Bryn Mawr at the college fair and the representative was telling us about their robots, especially their “Scribbler” (which she told us to look for on youtube). Anyways, I personally wouldn’t study computer science just because they’ll give me a pet robot. It’s an incentive, but not that great of an incentive…unless the robot was really really awesome. However, if people start studying computer science just because they’ll get a pet robot, doesn’t that defeat the purpose in a way? They won’t be truly interested in the subject, meaning that they probably won’t be successful in the real world. Also, with an increase in people studying economics, it means that they’ll have a lot of competition, and wages will probably decreases, whereas wages for computer science majors will increase because it will be harder to find people good at computer science. This is why I want to major in some strange major that no one studies just so there won’t be competition…but I most likely won’t do that.
The surplus in economic majors may eventually cause a decrease in wages in the long run for economicists due to the law of demand; when the demand is great the price is high, but when the demand is low, in this case economists because of the surplus, the price, or the wage, will be low. Thus, trying to entice students to major in the field of comptuer science is absurd. The incentive to study a field because of “free” product is not enough as the cost of the free pet robot is much greater than the benefit of it. The pet robot’s opportunity cost is the time it wastes of a person to study a field that they are not interested in because they want a free good. Universities would be better off enticing students with stats and data that proves computer science majors will allow for a greater revenue and job opportunity in the future.
WOWWWWW this article ALMOST makes me want to become a computer science majors.
Despite Microsoft’s genius idea to bribe students, I believe that the wages to economists will remain almost constant, while the wages paid to computer scientists will rise. Even so, I do not predict that there will suddenly be a significant rise in computer scientists.
I plan on majoring in advertisement or business in relation to the fashion industry. It would be wise to not major in economics at the moment since it is such a competitive field.
The robot idea is interesting. i think it will make more students be interested in Com Sci in the long run. More people would be intrested in Com Sci but then as too many people join it there will be the same problem with the situation right now, where too many are majoring in ECON. Taking Econ would be a bad idea because when there is more Econ professors avalable, the wages would go down because there is more options. This is the law of supply.
[...] The obvious solution to the problem of fewer and fewer qualified scientists is the continued increase in wages for such experts. The computer programming industry is experiencing a similar shortage of skilled workers, which has led not only to higher starting wages, but to firms like Microsoft attempting to make software design cooler and more attractive to college students (remember the pet robots?). [...]
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