First Steps into Practical Engineering for Freshman Students Using MATLAB and LEGO Mindstorms Robots

Besides lectures on basic theoretical topics, contemporary teaching and learning concepts for first semester students give more and more consideration to practically motivated courses. In this context, a new first-year introductory course in practical engineering has been established in the first semester curriculum of Electrical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Based on a threefold learning concept, programming skills in MATLAB are taught to 309 students within a full-time block course laboratory. The students are encouraged to transfer known mathematical basics to program algorithms and real-world applications performed by 100 LEGO Mindstorms robots. A new MATLAB toolbox and twofold project tasks have been developed for this purpose by a small team of supervisors. The students are supervised by over 60 tutors at 23 institutes, and are encouraged to create their own robotics applications. We describe how the laboratory motivates the students to act and think like engineers and to solve real-world issues with limited resources. The evaluation results show that the proposed practical course concept successfully boosts students’ motivation, advances their programming skills, and encourages the peer learning process.

Using LEGO® Mindstorms and MATLAB in curriculum design of active learning activities for a first-year engineering computing course

The goal of this research project was to investigate the feasibility of implementing a programmable robot (LEGO Mindstorm) combined with a computer program (MATLAB) into MacEwan's Engineering Computer Programming (ENCP 100) curriculum as a hands-on active learning tool. With a more hands-on/practical approach to the course, students may find themselves immersed in the material and motivated to understand and apply the abstract concepts learned in class to real-world applications. Previous studies found in the conducted literature review showed that LEGO® Mindstorms can be used to enhance active learning for students, particularly when used to demonstrate computer programming concepts. The LEGO Mindstorms kits come with several programmable motors and sensors suitable to the first-year curriculum (including touch, colour, rotation, and a text display). Not only is it a tool applicable to ENCP, but it can be used to bring multiple concepts from various engineering courses together. Students can look at displacements, velocities, accelerations, work, energy, equilibrium, and more. The capabilities of the sensors were found to be more than adequate to cover the first-year computing curriculum. Through the assessment of the various sensors, learning activities were designed to develop both fundamental programming skills and hands on problem-solving skills. Results of this research have shown that LEGO ® Mindstorms is a viable teaching tool for a first-year engineering computing course to develop fundamental programming skills and hands-on problem-solving skills.   Faculty Mentor: Shelley Lorimer Department: Biomedical Mechanical Engineerin

A bibliometric and classification study of Project-based Learning in engineering education

Engineering education has been the subject of studies in search of approaches that provide better results in terms of learning. The Project Based Learning approach (PBL) is the subject of this study from the point of view of its application in Engineering. The objective is to present a classification and bibliometric analysis of PBL in Engineering. Publications on the subject were identified through queries at the journal databases at ISI Web of Science and Scopus SCImago between 2000 and 2016. The results highlight the benefits from the use of the PBL approach to learning in Engineering showing increased absorption of technical content by students and the development of soft and multi-disciplinary skills. The bibliometric analysis revealed the most relevant journals in the subject, authors and the most cited papers and keywords. New horizons to advance the use of PBL in engineering education are discussed

Matlab

This book is a collection of 19 excellent works presenting different applications of several MATLAB tools that can be used for educational, scientific and engineering purposes. Chapters include tips and tricks for programming and developing Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), power system analysis, control systems design, system modelling and simulations, parallel processing, optimization, signal and image processing, finite different solutions, geosciences and portfolio insurance. Thus, readers from a range of professional fields will benefit from its content

Learning in Informal Environments Through Engineering Activities Through the Partnership with the Girl Scouts

More affordable and portable robots have enabled easier access for outreach activities to happen in different environments. However, exposure to robotics often relies on seeing robots in action, such as industrial robotics and robots that are used for research purposes. Old Dominion University’s College of Engineering and Technology in Norfolk, Virginia recently signed a partnership agreement with the Girl Scouts of Colonial Coast as one of the focused outreach strategies that target the female population. Various events are held on campus in the Hampton Roads residential area located in the southeastern United States, which has a population of around 2 million people. Through this method, elementary age girls can be exposed to engineering content by attending events that are held on the university campus and lead by faculty along with graduate and undergraduate students. This paper showcases one such learning activity through an informal setting activity designed for the K-5 elementary grade levels. In this case, Girl Scouts in the following groups: Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors. Similar activities can be delivered on any other college campus that offers majors related to the area of mechanical engineering / mechanical engineering technology; civil engineering / civil engineering technology; and electrical engineering / electrical engineering technology

LEGO Mindstorms og MATLAB; anvendt matematikk/fysikk og programmering i skjønn forening

Ved å kombinere LEGO Mindstorms og MATLAB kan studenter introduseres for programmering på en måte som i stor grad er prosjektbasert og som innebærer såkalt studentaktiv læring. Denne artikkel beskriver hvordan Universitetet i Stavanger benytter denne kombinasjonen for data- og elektrostudenter i første semester som en del av Ingeniørfaglig innføringsemne. Det blir også beskrevet hvordan studentene blir organisert i grupper og hvilke forutsetninger som må til for at én faglig ansvarlig skal kunne veilede 160 studenter og gi faglige tilbakemeldinger til samtlige. Videre beskrives hvordan det tilrettelegges for å oppnå individuell læring i gruppearbeidet. Programmeringen er knyttet opp mot praktiske anvendelser fra fysikken som gjør bruk av anvendt matematikk i form av blant annet numerisk integrasjon, filtrering og numerisk derivasjon. Dette åpner for mange motiverende prosjekter som studentene har stor glede av å gjennomføre

Bau eines autonomen Spielfeldzeichners

Noch nie haben die Extreme von Zeitnot und Langeweile das Leben so stark geprägt, wie in unserer beschleunigten Gesellschaft. Wie viel Tempo verträgt der Mensch? Selbständige Roboter können Hilfe leisten und eine sinnvolle Ergänzung sein.In der modernen Industrie werden Prozesse automatisiert, um sie von Fehlern zu bewahren. Anlagen sollen 24 Stunden laufen können, effizient, effektiv und sicher arbeiten können. Dabei kommt es entscheidend darauf an, vorgegebene Werte einzuhalten, um eine qualitativ hochwertige, umweltgerechte und sichere Produktion zu gewährleisten. Die Programmierungsmöglichkeiten erlauben in der Folgezeit genau das, was man sich als Ziel setzt. z.B. die komplexe Montage innerhalb der Automobilfertigung zu erfüllen

Simulación de entornos de producción mediante LEGO® MINDSTORMS NXT

La necesidad de poner en práctica métodos de enseñanza más atractivos para los alumnos universitarios es cada vez más clara. En todas las disciplinas técnicas, las clases prácticas donde el alumno debe experimentar y aplicar los conocimientos teóricos adquiridos van ganando terreno frente a otros métodos más tradicionales. La docencia en el ámbito de la Organización y la Producción industrial, tradicionalmente teórica, no debe ser una excepción. Por esta razón, este TFG tiene por objetivo desarrollar un simulador físico, a pequeña escala, de un proceso industrial, cuyo fin sea ser utilizado en asignaturas de la intensificación de organización y producción del Grado en Ingeniería en Tecnologías Industriales. Para construir el simulador se ha utilizado el producto electrónico LEGO® Mindstorms y su funcionamiento ha sido programado en MATLAB a través de una librería llamada RWTH Toolbox, desarrollada en la Universidad Ténica de Aquisgrán.Universidad de Sevilla. Grado en Ingeniería de las Tecnologías Industriale