Work in Progress: Using Cost-effective Educational Robotics Kits in Engineering Education

Abstract

The field of robotics is multidisciplinary, employing fundamental knowledge and building upon skills acquired in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science courses. Hands-on engagement, which has become increasingly difficult to facilitate due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is an integral component of any comprehensive engineering education program. A project-based approach using low-cost, pre-made kits offers practical experience in teamwork and collaboration, system design and implementation, problem solving and refinement of interdisciplinary skillsets through projects that can be completed at home or in the classroom. Robotics instruction and experimentation provides a means to achieve robust interdisciplinary learning outcomes, facilitating long-term retention of engineering concepts by illustrating the connections between theory and practice. This paper aims to establish the need for design integration throughout the undergraduate curriculum, identify existing methodologies for design integration, and develop a practical model for instructional use of Arduino Engineering Kits to support design education in the Electrical Engineering program. The kit provides basic design instructions and programming guidance for three projects: a self-balancing motorcycle, a mobile rover, and a whiteboard drawing robot. Each project operates using an Arduino MKR1000 microcontroller. The mobile rover project was selected for implementation after the foundational skill requirements and outcomes of each project were evaluated and matched to desired instructional outcomes across courses in the Electrical Engineering curriculum. Through amalgamation of the cognate fields of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, mechatronics and computer science, the curriculum design that emerges from this paper will serve as a multidisciplinary educational tool.