Abstract:

Learning by doing is considered a very important and interesting pedagogical strategy to improve the motivation of the students. This fact is because the students usually try to find the connection between knowledge that they have about the real world and experiences acquired in the classroom. The mass use of technological elements has modified the behaviors of nowadays society and marks the beginning of a new social paradigm where this is implemented in domestic and daily tools. Thereby, learning scenarios that incorporate real-life experiences along with educational technology resources and tools that are already familiar to students are examples of approaches that can provide meaningful learning in the classroom.

One of the most interesting technology resources is Educational Robotics, not understood as a single subject, but considered as a didactic strategy in which the robot is used as a tool to solve a specific problem. The use of robots makes it possible to carry out dynamics based on creativity and innovation so that students are challenged and they must solve it by programming the robot with the proper behavior. Educational Robotics, in addition to enabling the creation of behaviors and being able to program them, has other advantages when used as a teaching tool because it facilitates the acquisition of knowledge playfully, it can improve the motivation of students and it is based on collaborative work.

This contribution is focused on describing a new prototype of a transversal educational robot that can be used in all educational levels because of its structure and implementation. One of the first obstacles that can appear when a professor or student tries to use a robot usually could be lack of electronics knowledge. This is the reason why this prototype includes the main sensors and actuators that are connected to the control unit via standard RJ11 connectors. This kind of connector eases the introduction of new elements to the robot to avoid problems related to the hardware part. With this approach, we consider that the student can be focused on the programming part instead of having to take into account the problems that a wrong connection could generate in the behavior of the robot. The control unit of the robot is based on the open-access resource Arduino. This feature allows the users to program the robot with different Operating Systems (SO), including Linux. Besides this fact, the use of Arduino technology makes it possible to program the robot using both popular environments based on code (e.g.. Arduino IDE) and blocks (e.g. Scratch). The structure of the robot has been built with a 3D printer, providing the agility and robustness that needs an educational tool. Another feature to be highlighted of this educational robot is the reduced cost since this is joint with the compatibility with free SO, the other feature that professors need to acquire it for their education center.

Therefore, depending on the educational level where the robot is used, using blocks that represent a certain behavior in primary levels and code in secondary and high education levels. Concerning the use of this prototype in early ages, it is possible to use it to work skills like computational thinking. This can be performed through solving challenges based on programming the robot through simple blocks via an APP or a simple remote control that allows the student to carry out a sequence of movements to reach a certain position.

Keywords:

Robotics, robot, education, innovation, technology, learning-by-doing, programming, computational thinking, STEM.