Research Projects

Robotics is advancing every day and it is becoming an integral part of today’s life. It is not only part of the manufacturing sector anymore. Nowadays, robots can be found in nearly every industry and in a variety of public locations. With all the technological advancements and the growing economies, robots will be a main part of our future. Hence, it is crucial that the next generations are well prepared and it is our duty to offer all of the support needed by transferring our knowledge and experience to them so they can build upon it. Robotics is a perfect interdisciplinary field to attract teenagers and it can serve as a door opener into all kind of STEM disciplines. This research project aims at developing practical educational robotic material, which will be used as part of the internship and training programs for high school students to be offered by the Institute for Mechatronic Systems (IMS). The framework will be designed in a modular manner, such that different modules can be used for try-out days of a few hours or combined to offer internships of several days. The focus will not be on pedagogical aspects but on the technical implementations within the simulation software and on the physical robot.

Phase 1 (Research Phase, 2 weeks): Research on the current robotics training programs for both kids and Adolescents. Multiple concepts for training tasks should be generated by the end of this phase. These concepts should include a RobotStudio (ABB’s proprietary software) simulation part and a practical implementation using a YuMi robot.

Phase 2 (Familiarization and Planning Phase, 2-3 weeks): At the beginning of this phase, the student will get access to an ABB YuMi robot, a licensed version of ABB’s RobotStudio software, and the already existing IMS educational material that was offered in the past for kids. These will be used to get familiar with RobotStudio, the software on which the simulation material part will be developed and with the actual YuMi robot that will be used for the practical material part. A plan for the development of the educational material should be worked out by the end of this phase including the chosen concept(s).

Phase 3 (Practical Phase, 4-5 weeks): The educational material (both the simulation and the real robot application) should be developed during this phase, based on the obtained knowledge in last phases and the chosen concept(s) according to the plan. At the end of this phase, the student should have the developed tasks ready and well documented for both the educators and for the students/trainees who will conduct these trainings in the future.

Phase 4 (Documentation, 2 weeks): A final project report should be written documenting the last three phases.

This Project is supervised by Prof. Dr.-Ing. S. Rinderknecht and Omar Elsarha, M.Sc..