Educational-oriented mobile robot: Hidden lessons

Abstract

Autonomous robots are a potential learning platform for degrees related to mathematics, programming, signal processing, electronics, control, artificial intelligence and robotics, among others. Furthermore, working with these real robotic systems involves not only the knowledge of many different disciplines but it is also an ideal platform to acquire other transversal skills such as to concentrate on manual tasks, patience, team work, imagination and creativity, inquiring, etc. In this work, some aspects of the design and implementation of an autonomous robot are presented. This mobile robot is educational-oriented, and it serves as a platform for the application of different techniques to navigate in a maze. It also helps to compare theoretical and practical results. It is proved that this type of robotic platform is a good tool for teaching and learning different disciplines and that there are many hidden lessons beyond the theory that can be learned using this type of real experiences.