Europa: A case study for teaching sensors, data acquisition and robotics via a ROS-based educational robot

Abstract

Robots have become a popular educational tool in secondary education, introducing scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical concepts to students all around the globe. In this paper EUROPA, an extensible, open software and open hardware robotic platform is presented focusing on teaching physics, sensors, data acquisition and robotics. EUROPA’s software infrastructure is based οn Robot Operating System (ROS). It includes easy to use interfaces for robot control and interaction with users and thus can easily be incorporated in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and robotics classes. EUROPA was designed taking into account current trends in educational robotics. An overview of widespread robotic platforms is presented, documenting several critical parameters of interest such as their architecture, sensors, actuators and controllers, their approximate cost, etc. Finally, an introductory STEM curriculum developed for EUROPA and applied in a class of high school students is presented.