The robotics and mechatronics kit "qfix"

Abstract

Robot building projects are increasingly used in schools and universities to raise the interest of students in technical subjects. They can especially be used to teach the three mechatronics areas at the same time: mechanics, electronics, and software. However, it is hard to find reusable, robust, modular and cost-effective robot development kits in the market. Here, we present qfix, a modular construction kit for edutainment robotics and mechatronics experiments which fulfills all of the above requirements and receives strong interest from schools and universities. The outstanding advantages of this kit family are the solid aluminium elements, the modular controller boards, and the programming tools which reach from an easy-to-use graphical programming environment to a powerful C++ library for the GNU compiler collection. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.