Workshop overview

The CSbots workshop will take place from 8:30 to 5 on Wednesday, July 23rd and 8:30 to noon on Thursday, July 24th. Breakfast and lunch will be provided on Wednesday, and breakfast will be provided on Thursday. Housing has been arranged for the nights of the 22nd and 23rd, and parking is available for the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.

Getting to Carnegie Mellon

The Carnegie Mellon visitor's page provides thorough driving directions to the Carnegie Mellon campus.

If you are flying to Pittsburgh, there are two options for getting to campus - you can take a taxi, which runs about $40 and will take 30 minutes. You can also take the 28X airport flier, a public bus which stops at the airport every 20-40 minutes (between 6 AM and midnight); the last stop of the bus is at Carnegie Mellon, so it's a relatively simple mass transit option. The bus ride takes one hour and costs $2.25.

Housing

If you requested on-campus housing, you can check in to Donner Hall anytime after 8:30 AM on Tuesday. Rooms have been arranged for you in the Welch dorm. If you did not request a roommate, you were assigned one - we will be providing each of you the other's email address so you may make contact with your roommate before the workshop begins. Your room keys will expire at 3 PM on Thursday, so please check out by that time. If you are attending the CS4HS workshop, you will need to re-checkin; we apologize for the inconvenience.

View the campus map to see where Donner Hall (43) and Welch hall (64) are.

Parking

Parking passes are available for those who requested them. The pass covers parking for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

To pick up your permit, park in the east campus garage (marked on the campus map). Take the ticket the machine provides with you. If you arrive Tuesday, walk to the housing check-in regardless of whether you are getting housing - they will have a permit ticket for you. Hand the ticket you got from the machine to the housing attendant in exchange for your permit. The permit allows you to enter and leave the garage as much as you like.

If you arrive Wednesday, go straight to the workshop site after parking in the garage. Keep your ticket - we'll give you your permit at the workshop and will take your ticket.

Directions to the workshop

The workshop is located in Newell-Simon Hall 1507. Newell-Simon hall (15) is located about a ten minute walk from campus parking and about 15 minutes from campus housing. We will post signs throughout Newell-Simon directing you to the workshop. Both of the following walking directions are annotated on the campus map.

To get to Newell-Simon from parking, walk down Forbes Ave towards South Craig St. Turn left into the parking lot and driveway between Hamburg Hall (10) and the Collaborative Innovation Center (4). Follow the driveway as it turns left, and you will see Newell-Simon Hall on your right side in front of a large building that is still under construction. You will be entering from the 3rd floor - go straight through the doors, walk to the large staircase in the atrium, and then turn right to get to the elevators. Take the elevators to the first floor, and turn left out of the elevators, and then left again at room 1305. Head down this hallway for a few feet, room 1507 will be on your right side.

From campus housing, walk down to Wean Hall (30). Take the elevators in Wean down one floor (from the 5th floor to the 4th floor). Exit the elevators and turn left, and then turn left again at the E&S library. Walk down this hall and cross the footbridge into Newell-Simon Hall. Walk past the large staircase in the atrium, and turn left into the elevators. Take the elevators to the first floor, and turn left out of the elevators, and then left again at room 1305. Head down this hallway for a few feet, room 1507 will be on your right side.

Robot Platform

We are making the Robot platforms used during the workshop available for sale at a heavily subsidized cost - ordinarily the robot and accessories costs over $700. Thanks to the Arthur Vining Foundation's support of our program, we can provide one robot per participant at $200. You can decide at the end of the workshop whether you wish to take one with you/have one shipped to you later.

Robot250 and Pittsburgh 250

If you're coming in early on Tuesday or extending your stay in Pittsburgh, we suggest you check out the events going on to celebrate Pittsburgh's 250th birthday. A robot themed festival, robot250 will be in full swing, as will a number of non-robot festivals and exhibitions. Here is a recent article from the NY times travel section highlighting some things to do in Pittsburgh.

Campus Map