Educational robotics to develop robotic kit using 3D printed technology

• Grant number: 18/24753-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2019
• End date: February 29, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science
• Principal Investigator: Wagner Tanaka Botelho
• Grantee: Arthur Neto dos Santos
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Robotic is a set of knowledge that comes from different areas such as Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, among others. These areas provide the knowledge needed to develop robots. The use of Educational Robotics as a teaching learning process allows students to develop abilities related to the elaboration of hypotheses, finding solutions, establishing relationship, among others. Therefore, this research project proposes the use of Educational Robotics for the development of a low-cost robotic kit using a 3D printer. However, before printing the kit, the mechanical structure of the robot should be designed in Computer Aided Design (CAD)-3D known as SolidWorks. In this step, in order to control the robot, it is necessary to define the sensors, motors and all the electronic components used in the kit. Also, it is important to program a simple algorithm so that the students control the motors and access the sensors data. Finally, a technical report will be written with all the information about the robotic kit. It is important to point out that in this research project, the use of Educational Robotics is not related to the well-known robotic kits, such as Lego Mindstorms NXT, VEX Robotics, among others. In addition, the students will not use the 3D printer to design and print their own robotic kit. Thus, the 3D printer will be used to print and build the robotic kit proposed in this research project.