Abstract:

In the paper, the special concept of teaching through experience was described. The students of informatics were taught the basics of embedded software development even without previous knowledge. Such problematics is very broad while covering the area of electronics, physics, C++ OOP (Object-Oriented Programming), and 3D printing. To achieve this aim, the students were supplied with a special robot kit, which was developed by the authors for this purpose. The robot consisted of three parts - a control unit, a robot's chassis, and an application interface. The control unit was based on an ATMega328p microcontroller, which was programmed through USB/serial interface. The control unit was primarily used for familiarization with the system. It utilized a photoresistor, RGB LED diode, and magnetic buzzer - the peripherals, on which the students learned the programming basics while using the microcontroller features. After the students became familiar with all peripherals and features, the control unit was then extended by the robot's chassis to expand the features of the kit. This chassis integrated two DC motors controlled through driver DRV8833, ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04 for obstacle detection, CNY70 optical sensor for the robot guidance, and one 4.2V Li-ion battery for the robot powering. Bluetooth module HC-05 was at the chassis implemented for communication purposes. The third part of the kit - an application interface - was implemented as an Android application. The students themselves built the whole robot, soldered all of its parts, designed and assembled all mechanical parts, and finally programmed its movement so that they could participate in a small competition among themselves. This approach attracted students, and the final competition motivated them very well. In this paper, all teaching steps with regard to the mentioned approach will be described in detail and presented together with a description of the technical solution of the robot kit. The robot was built as an open hardware solution that made it available for all those who are interested. This teaching method was introduced and applied with the support of an international project Teach4Edu - Accelerating the transition towards Edu 4.0 in HEIs supported by the Erasmus+ program - KA2 - Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices started with its activities in November 2020.

Keywords:

Robot, obstacles, Bluetooth, control, teaching, experience, competition, technologies, innovation, C++, embedded systems.