Abstract:

The School of Engineering of the University of Bergamo offers a Mechatronic curriculum both to MSc students of Mechanical Engineering and MSc students of Computer Science Engineering. This curriculum is composed of several courses covering a wide range of subjects, among the others: Functional Design of Mechanical and Mechatronic Systems, Fundamentals of Control Systems, Modeling and Simulation of Mechanical Systems, Mechanics of Robot, etc.

The course of “Mechanics of Robot" is delivered in the first semester; this 6 ECTS course introduces students to basics of modeling, motion planning, and design of robot systems. Students that attend the course have all a similar background in mechanical engineering with fundamental knowledge about control theory and about design and optimization of motion laws (this topic is covered in the course on “Functional Design of Mechanical and Mechatronic Systems “). Besides, in the same semester, students attend the Class of “Modeling and Simulation of Mechanical Systems” that provides a comprehensive overview of the Multibody approach to rigid body dynamics.

The final examination consists of the presentation of a project, chosen among a range of proposal presented at the beginning of the course. Students can work in teams composed of up to three students.

One of the proposed projects concerns the development of a simple 3-axis SCARA robot prototype powered by Arduino, a widespread microcontroller board very suitable for educational purpose. The manipulator prototype should be able to draw figures of any shape inside its working area. In order to fulfill the task, each students team has to cope with different design phases that are typical of a mechatronic system design: analysis of the proposed problem, discussion and selection of a practical solution, modeling and simulation of the whole system (including actuators and drives), design of the control software. Finally, once the manipulator is built and assembled, students have to test the prototype and evaluate the results.

The present paper describes in details each phase of the students activities, including the experimental validation, and highlights how this “hands on” educational approach allows willing and motivated students to improve their practical skills and to reach competences on the design of robotic systems.

Keywords:

Project-based learning, SCARA robot, Arduino.