Is there any preference for AI or non-AI programmed work at your company? Just curious.
I dislike about Vex’s stance on AI. Being able to propperly and efficiently use AI will be a huge advantage for anyone in the computer science field. I feel like Students would get more out of participating in Vex robotics if they could use AI, especially for Vex AI and Vex U, where the students there need more advaced skills/tools.
There’s a preference for increasing productivity. We also take the stance that a human is responsible for understanding how systems work and what the code does. We have had cases where developers use AI to write code that is poor quality, and then put up a Code Review for it and waste the time of their peers. We have had cases where AI has made a “10x developer” a “100x developer”, cranking out a system in 1/10th the time it would have ordinarily taken.
For people who may be technical, but not programmers, we find they can use AI to focus on HOW to solve a problem and letting the AI execute or aid in that process. For example, a program might crash in production, and a support person can ask the AI to copy the core dump file from the remote server to their local machine, set up a debugger, and help the support person figure out why the code crashed. In the past, that support person might have had to think thru
This reduces their cognitive load, allowing them to focus on the original question “why did the program crash”
I am teaching my friend how to code since he is new to robotics and tasked him with putting an image onto the brain in pros. He unfortunately asked Chat and he emailed me a file with an entire C array inside of it (which was about 500 lines with text wrapping enabled). Off rip i knew his code wouldn’t work even if he put it in another file since by default his program has color depth 32 and he had minimum 16 inside his C array. Besides that he had a few minor things that he probably wouldn’t even figured out if he knew the lvgl library entirely. Even though, he would have avoided those big mistakes if he actually took the time to read the docs instead of feeding it all to ChatGPT. I was a little bit surprised when he told me he just used AI for the whole assignment, but the end result was the same if he had actually done it- an empty screen. I do like the idea of using AI to catch things in complex code but I feel like if students are allowed to use it they will just copy and paste everything and learn nothing
This intrigues me a lot but I don’t know the answer…
I know I say this a lot, but the whole point of the competition is to foster a learning environment. It isn’t truly about how well you did, but really about why you performed how you did.
Thus, my take on this question is that AI is a good learning tool, but the student MUST actually understand what they are taught prior to using or applying it.
I have a question. I know someone who uses 100 pecsent AI to write Program. Is this allowed? Hope Not, because that does not sound right.
Umm, no that’s not allowed. If you use AI to help you learn about a function or something that you find difficult, then that’s okay, but if you use it to write 100% of your code, then no, that’s not ok.
Well, he does like 90% of it with ai, and the other stuff is just notes. There is no rule forbidding it, and I told my teacher, but she said to find a rule. I shown them (G4 I think) about student centered policy, but she said to find a specific rule
Here you go - from the Guide to Judging:
The use of artificial intelligence / large language model (AI/LLM) programs or tools to generate, organize, enhance, or alter Engineering Notebook content or programming code is contrary to the RECF Student-Centered Policy and Code of Conduct. Content produced by AI/LLM tools from prompts or by building on existing materials does not genuinely represent the skill level of a team that utilizes these tools. RECF programs offer opportunities to learn a variety of technical, organizational, and interpersonal skills. Not all students will have the same levels of competence in these skills, but all students will benefit from the practice and application of those skills as a part of the Engineering Design Process and creation of an Engineering Notebook. The misuse of AI/LLM tools, similar to non-student-centered adult involvement, deprives students of opportunities to gain experience at practicing core communication, organization, independent inquiry, and decision-making skills.
Thank you for this info