First understand what Cornell researchers are trying to learn through EmPRISE Lab, why the question matters, how they test it, and what the result cannot prove. Design a simulated care robot to hand over an object safely and ask a person for help when it cannot finish. The student then completes A care-robot mission app that checks state and stops to request help when a task becomes unsafe. For a college application or interview, the student separates the source research from their feature, interface, tests, failures, and revisions. Available online or in person in Apgujeong, in one-to-one or small-group formats.
University and lab names show where each public project came from. CIT independently designed these courses; they are not official university courses, partnerships, or endorsements.
8guided sessions
6-12 hoursto the first small project
Intermediaterecommended level
Not requiredphysical robot
Primary routes
Choose the student's primary AI education and portfolio route
CIT keeps the international-school route first, followed by the separate science and gifted-school route.
CIT lessons can run online across Korea and overseas or in person in Apgujeong. The student owns the question, code, tests and explanation; classes do not guarantee admission, selection or awards, and online delivery never changes an institution's submission rules.
How should a helpful robot order its actions while keeping a safe distance from people?
Design a simulated care robot that hands an object to a person. Set its safe distance, action order, and request for help when it cannot finish.
Students first use a small working example to understand the researchers' question, method, and evidence. A controlled change helps identify what the student's extension must solve. The student then implements a useful feature, connects an operator interface, and tests the integrated application in normal, boundary, and failure cases.
What will the student complete?
A care-robot mission app that checks state and stops to request help when a task becomes unsafe
The final package includes runnable instructions, the feature and interface design, normal and failure tests, one documented revision, and a three-minute explanation in the student's own words.
Feature
A feature that checks object state and safety distance while following a task sequence and stops to request help after a failure
Operator interface
A care-task screen clearly showing person, robot, and object state, the next action, and the reason for a help request
Optional LLM boundary
Optional: an LLM turns a care request into a draft sequence of allowed action cards. Each step still requires human approval and a safety check.
Integrated result
A care-robot mission app that checks state and stops to request help when a task becomes unsafe
Four ideas explained in this course
01tasks that help people
02the robot arm's reach
03safe action order
04safe distance from people
Eight introductory sessions
Understand the research, then build and test a working robotics application
The 20 courses are eight-session CIT studios in which students understand a public university or lab project, confirm a working example, and then turn it into a small robotics application with a useful feature and an operator interface. Selected courses add an optional LLM explanation tool that can read run records but cannot control the robot. RoboMaster has 28 sessions, and implementation scope is adjusted to each student's experience and computer access.
Understand the source
01
Review the simulated care setting and safety limits
02
Locate the person, robot, and object
Measure and compare
03
Check how far the robot arm can reach
04
Build a safe order of actions
Build a feature
05
Change only the object's location
06
Implement the student-owned feature: A feature that checks object state and safety distance while following a task sequence and stops to request help after a failure
Integrate and demonstrate
07
Build the operator interface: A care-task screen clearly showing person, robot, and object state, the next action, and the reason for a help request. Add the bounded assistant: Optional: an LLM turns a care request into a draft sequence of allowed action cards. Each step still requires human approval and a safety check.
08
Integrate, test, and demonstrate: A care-robot mission app that checks state and stops to request help when a task becomes unsafe
Public project used in class
See the exact version CIT reviewed
Public projects can change over time. To keep the class example consistent, CIT uses version ae0900be3e45 of empriselab/RCareWorld. CIT checked it on 2026-08-14; it was created on 2025-02-12. Usage-rights note: Apache-2.0.
The student widens one safety distance in a care-robot simulation and sees how the way it works changes. In class the project is separated into five boxes (input, memory, process, output, control). The lesson opens one of them, changes one value, and leaves the rest closed.
InputWhat comes in?
How the person and the objects are placed, and what the camera and touch sensors send back
MemoryWhat persists?
The attribute values attached to every object in the scene
ProcessWhat transforms?
Deciding where the hand should be and solving the joint angles that take it there
OutputWhat leaves, and who uses it?
The rendered picture, the values the sensors return, and whether the task finished
Controlopened hereWhat decides when anything runs?
The turn-taking that lets the Python side and the display program advance one step each
The files the lesson opens, by name. The course is not a walk through the repository; it opens a chosen few and says which.
One value moves and everything else stays. The right-hand column is the prediction written before the run, not a result; the work is reconciling the two.
The universities and labs named here made the open projects this course reads. CIT designed the course independently; it is not an official, affiliated, or endorsed course.
Clear answers about what students do, what they need, and where the project came from.
Is Cornell RCareWorld: Safe Assistive Robots an official course from Cornell EmPRISE Lab?
University and lab names show where each public project came from. CIT independently designed these courses; they are not official university courses, partnerships, or endorsements.
Is hardware required?
Not required. The course starts with a robot on the computer or a saved recording of a completed run. Computer guidance: 3D runtime required.
What background should a student have?
Recommended level: Intermediate. Students should be able to follow a guided Python example, test one controlled change, and then build and explain a small feature and interface.
What will the student make?
The completed project is A care-robot mission app that checks state and stops to request help when a task becomes unsafe. The student implements A feature that checks object state and safety distance while following a task sequence and stops to request help after a failure and A care-task screen clearly showing person, robot, and object state, the next action, and the reason for a help request. Optional: an LLM turns a care request into a draft sequence of allowed action cards. Each step still requires human approval and a safety check.
How can the student use this project in a college application?
Explain the source research question, method, evidence, and limits first. Then separate the student's own feature and interface decisions, normal and failure tests, revisions, and next question. The source institution's name does not imply affiliation or guarantee admission.
Which project version does the course use?
CIT reviewed version ae0900be3e45 of empriselab/RCareWorld on 2026-08-14. That version was created on 2025-02-12. We keep this version during class so the example does not change unexpectedly, and we check the setup again before teaching.
Can Cornell RCareWorld: Safe Assistive Robots be taken online or in person, one-to-one or in a small group?
Yes. This course is offered online and in person at CIT in Apgujeong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, with one-to-one and small-group options. Placement and current availability are confirmed after a readiness consultation.
Is this a good first project for this student?
Before placement, we check the student's coding and math experience, available computer, interests, and ability to explain what happened.
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