The e-puck, a robot designed for education in engineering (original) (raw)

Educational Robot for Principles of Electrical Engineering

Scientia Iranica, 2017

An educational robot is described, which is designed and constructed for use in the laboratory of Principles of Electrical Engineering. The discrete nature of design, conforming to a simple block strategy, allows for fairly easy introduction of basic and fundamental concepts of Electrical Engineering to the freshman students, including control, actuation, wireless signal transmission, and analogue/digital conversions. Each block or module represents one or few engineering ideas and helps the students to understand the interplay and connection between system divisions, and enhance their creative thinking. Circuits are designed and implemented such that both structure and functionality of each module are clearly presented. Inputs and outputs as well as major signals can be traced and measured through several test points.

Bridging the freshman engineering gap by building mobile robots

2002

Introduction: Many freshman-engineering students have little or no idea of exactly what an engineer does. In addition, these students often lack even the most basic technical skills that will be required throughout their careers. These skills are often are taken for granted by instructors, e.g., use of hand tools and identifying basic components. These problems are compounded by the traditional approach to engineering education, which delays the introduction of “real” engineering work until at least two years into the curriculum. Students quickly lose focus amongst the large number of seemingly unrelated prerequisites. The end results are low retention rates and too many unmotivated and underachieving students, as demonstrated in electrical and computer engineering (ECE) programs across the country.

A Two Years Informal Learning Experience Using the Thymio Robot

Advances in Autonomous Mini Robots, 2012

Technology is playing an increasing role in our society. Therefore it becomes important to educate the general public, and young generations in particular, about the most common technologies. In this context, robots are excellent education tools, for many reasons: (i) robots are fascinating and attract the attention of all population classes, (ii) because they move and react to their environment, robots are perceived as close to living beings, which make people attracted and attached to them, (iii) robots are multidisciplinary systems and can illustrate technological principles in electronics, mechanics, computer and communication sciences, and (iv) robots have many applications fields: medical, industrial, agricultural, safety ... While several robots exist on the market and are used for education, entertainment or both, none fits with the dream educational tool: promoting creativity and learning, entertaining, cheap and powerful. We addressed this goal by developing the Thymio robot and distributing it during workshops over two years. This paper describes the design principles of the robot, the educational context, and the analysis made with 65 parents after two years of use. We conclude the paper by outlining the specifications of a new form of educational robot.

AC 2010-22: MOBILE ROBOTICS: A TOOL FOR APPLICATION-BASED INTEGRATION OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY UNDERGRADUATE CONCEPTS AND RESEARCH Mobile Robotics: A tool for application-based integration of multidisciplinary undergraduate concepts and research

Institute of Technology Dr. Berry is an assistant professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She is one of the principal investigators on the multidisciplinary educational robotics initiative and the Rose building undergraduate diversity program. Her research areas include the design and evaluation of human-robot interfaces and innovations in engineering education using active learning and mobile robotics. Abstract This paper presents the development of a mobile robotics course at the primarily undergraduate engineering school, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. This course is one of the final courses in the multidisciplinary educational robotics certificate program. The purpose of this course is to use the robot to provide the students with an appreciation of their discipline and how it applies to other disciplines. It is hypothesized that students will gain a more realistic model of their future workplace demographi...

A Multidisciplinary Industrial Robot Approach for Teaching Mechatronics-Related Courses

IEEE Transactions on Education, 2017

This paper presents a robot prototype for an undergraduate laboratory program designed to fulfill the criteria laid out by ABET. The main objective of the program is for students to learn some basic concepts of embedded systems and robotics, and apply them in practice. For that purpose, various practical laboratory exercises were prepared to teach different aspects of communications, control, mechatronics, and microcontrollers. The practicals are organized such that the students can systematically solve real-world problems. The most important feature of the presented program is that, it incorporates interdisciplinary knowledge, and inculcates technical and professional skills required in pursuing a successful career. Furthermore, students and instructors can modify the software and hardware units of the robot prototype as necessary, to explore more ideas and to apply the robot in other mechatronics-related courses. A digital electronics course taught at the Automation Department at Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Querétaro, Mexico, is presented as a case study in which the evaluation process was based on ABET criteria and the corresponding student outcomes. A student survey elicited students' observations of, and interest in, the learning process. The positive student feedback and student academic outcomes indicate that the inclusion of prototype had a significant impact on student academic outcomes.

Robots for Education (Edutainment)

IFAC-PapersOnLine, 2016

Edutainment is an artificial word based on "Education" and "Entertainment" and was introduced in the nineties. Lifestyle of young people has changed. Robotics is a very good tool to teach technology while, at the same time, always remaining very tightly anchored to reality. Robots can be used as tools in art. Robots will enable us to build real environments. From the ethical point of view robot toys can become kids' companions, e.g. "friend", "brother", ……..; Therefore we used robots very early for teaching in our laboratory courses. Some exercises will be described and discussed including the feedback of our students in this contribution. Finally a summary of our experiences and future developments for improving the course under the headline " Cost Oriented Automation" will be outlined.

Robotics for High School Students in a University Enviroment

Computer Science Education, 1996

The Young Scholars Program at the Institute for Systems Research of the University of Maryland at College Park is an innovative summer research experience for high school students from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Its goal is to steer talented high school seniors toward higher education and careers in science and engineering. One particularly popular component of this program is a two week mini{course in robotics. This course utilizes the resources of the Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory of the university to introduce and demonstrate theoretical and practical aspects of robotics. This paper reports on the characteristics that make this a unique e ort in robotics{related education for both the Young Scholars Program participants and the small group of University of Maryland graduate students who have been responsible for the development and instruction of this course.

Robot Contest for Innovative Development in Education Technology

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research

Robotics has taken on a multifaceted role with outstanding development such as in the development of robotic technology and automation, medicine, and industry. This research aims to encourage students to practice their skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It results in practice, analyzing and solving problems, and working together as a team. They will also be able to participate in a robot contest to find a Thailand representative for the upcoming Asia Pacific robotics competition. Researchers and students from the Department of Electrical Education, Faculty of Industrial and Technology Education, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi under the team "MODFIRE@FIET" joined the robot competition from 2013 to the present. Each competition will evaluate the performance of the robot with a unique criterion. This results in the student's commitment to develop a robot to work effectively under the circumstances. The team has developed the knowledge of robotics and automation and controls the main work with Arduino. Each contestant will have two robots, a Manual Robot and an Automatic Robot. Both of these robots have different designs, structures, and mechanisms from generation to generation, under the rules of the year to reduce the system crashes. Our team is focused on designing robots with a simple and appropriate mechanism to carry out the mission. In the future, the researcher aims to provide the robot as part of the development of teaching and learning for students. Let them know, analyze, and further their knowledge to apply to technology. 

What's it like to be an engineer? Robotics in academic engineering education

Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2008

Robotics holds a unique role among the technical disciplines. This role is based on the inter and cross-disciplinary foundations of the field, ranging from areas of the computer sciences such as software-engineering and artificial intelligence, classical mechanical and electrical engineering problems defined by the design of the hardware, to the development of social and team skills in the development of complex problemsolving strategies. In addition, the applications of robotics are far reaching, broadening the scope of problems faced beyond the technological fields. As a result, the field of Robotics allows hands-on teaching of scientific and engineering methodologies at an early stage of the students' academic education, not limited to basics but integrating state-of-the-art technologies.