An approach to teaching undergraduate courses in computer graphics and robotics is presented. Objects in two and three dimensions of various shapes are involved in the study of graphics and robotics. The representation and manipulation of these objects constitute important topics of discussion in these courses. Students will evince keen interest in learning the material if instructors supplement classroom lectures with demonstrations and homework assignments using a symbolic computing program for solving problems. In this article, it is shown how Maple can be used for solving a wide range of problems arising in robotics and graphics, each with different requirements in terms of the software tools required. Fast prototype development, concept illustration, and graphical solution verification are facilitated by the use of a symbolic computing system such as Maple, and these cannot be accomplished with the same ease using traditional programming languages such as C or FORTRAN. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.