"Thank you for playing science": Robotic education at DLR School Lab RWTH Aachen

Abstract

The current developments being triggered by Industry 4.0 pose major challenges for robotic education; hence, the demand for students from fields affiliated with science, technology, engineering, mathematics and robotics in particular is steadily increasing. In this research paper, the "DLR-School-Lab-RWTH Aachen", an interdisciplinary student laboratory created to counter this challenge, is described and evaluated. Founded in 2013 by RWTH Aachen University and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the DLR-School-Lab RWTH Aachen offers high-tech experiments in the field of robotics to secondary school students. Since its foundation, it has served as a highly successful extracurricular learning venue. Through active experimentation with robots in application scenarios and based on research from aeronautical, space, energy and transport fields, students have had the opportunity to receive an insight into different scientific disciplines and carry out hands-on experiments. The findings of this research suggest that the visit to the DLR-School-Lab RWTH Aachen enhanced the participants' interest in studying STEM fields. The results are under discussion and further steps, which take the results of these findings into account, are being planned.