In this paper it is presented a Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) mobile robot programming approach, to be applied in a robotics educational context. The motivation to apply this approach is the fact that students can program the robots without access to the robot hardware, but still maintain some important closed loop control critical features, such as a realistic lag time and the possibility for a larger number of students to program at the same time. Therefore, the developed software is applied to the real hardware without any change. The HIL approach was applied to provide a simulation close to reality, once the processing occurs in the real robot processor and the actuation and sensorization inside the simulation, adding to the advantage to test the firmware avoiding damage in the physical robot.

This article presents the prototyping of an educational manipulator robot, based on the "EEZYbotARM Mk2" robot, tailored for first-year master’s students in the field of robotics. The project encompasses the assembly of the robot arm, computation of both forward and inverse kinematics, and analysis of two path-planning movement algorithms. These features are consolidated into an Arduino library to streamline the process for students to generate instructions for the robot. The "EEZYbotARM Mk2" features a three-degree-of-freedom revolute arm with a gripper that remains parallel to its base at all times, enhancing its suitability for educational applications such as pick-and-place tasks. The article provides detailed descriptions of the materials and methods employed, along with proposed challenges for student engagement.

This paper is devoted to present the most recent results regarding the ongoing work carried out in the scope of the STC 4.0 HP project, which aims to automate the finishing process of ceramic tableware at the GRESTEL S.A. industry, focusing on non-circular shaped plates. A collaborative robot is in charge of handling the tableware and making it go around its entire perimeter through a sponge, to perform the finishing. An array, with the distances from the center to the different points of the plate, is applied as data to trace the path that the robot must follow. The final goal of this prototype is to obtain an even finish while maintaining a constant force along the entire perimeter of the ceramic tableware. After carrying out a series of tests, it was possible to conclude that the current approach was able to manipulate 3D-printed tableware made for testing and travel its perimeter to carry out the finishing.

The smart cities paradigm covers multiple domains which span from citizens’ accessibility and mobility to general infrastructures and services. Hence, smart cities can be seen as an excellent showcase of heterogeneity, namely at the data level. For this reason, they are a perfect candidate for linked data and semantic web concept applications. This powerful combination leads to interoperability at the data level which is one of the ultimate goals of the Internet of Things (IoT). In this reference frame, NGSI-LD is an open framework for context information processing consisting of both a semantic information model and a RESTful Application Programming Interface (API). This paper proposes a methodology for creating semantic data models in the context of IoT, namely to represent and describe data associated with digital twins. The methodology is presented in a practical way, through the process of creating an NGSI-LD semantic data model for the VALLPASS project, inserted in the traffic domain, which is one of the most popular in smart cities.

In this paper it is described a Pilot that took place at Emídio Garcia School from Bragança, Portugal. The presented Pilot is based on a Challenge based Learning Approach, being an activity of the RoboSTEAM - Integrating STEAM and Computational Thinking development by using robotics and physical devices - ERASMUS+ Project. In the presented educational experiment it were used physical devices, being chosen the mBot robot, programmed using Scratch. The presented challenges had as research question a global problem that was Wildfires. Student had to propose and to develop solutions based on the use of robots to prevent and fight wildfires. The students that participated in the experiment were secondary school students, from Spain and Portugal, with their background in technology and arts respectively. Previously to the experiment the involved students filled a STEM semantic Survey and during the experiments their performance was evaluated.

STEAM Education is nowadays a key element for our current digital society. Integrating STEAM and developing competences such as Computational Thinking is highly demanded by the industry and higher education institutions. In order to do so new methodological approaches are required. RoboSTEAM project is an Erasmus+ project defined to address these topics by using of physical devices and robotics employing Challenge Based Learning methodology. One of the first steps in the project development is the definition of current landscape in the research field. Which means to carry out a literature mapping that considers previous applications of Challenge Based Learning in STEAM education and use of robots and physical devices to do so. This paper shows the mapping review process and the main results obtained. The mapping analyze 242 candidate works from the most relevant bibliographic sources and selected 54. Form them it was possible to see that there are not many initiatives on STEM Education related to Challenge base learning and the most of them are specially focused on the application of specific tools and in the development of concrete competences.

In this paper it is presented a line follower educational mobile robot performance robustness increase. The Robotic Day line Follower Competition was used as a Benchmark to test the proposed approach. The applied robot is based on an Arduino, which is applied in the low level control, while the high level control loop is carried out by an RPI running an object pascal application. The described robot was prototyped in order to have a competitive participation in the Robotic Day Line Follower 2017 competition, and improved for performance robustness increase in order to participate in the 2018 competition. It was prototyped with an RPI, taking advantage of its capabilities, allowing the use of higher performance sensors, when compared with the most common standard approaches based on a single 8 bit RISC micro-controller, having as disadvantage the inevitable robot size increase, which compromises in certain situations the robot maneuverability and increases the power consumption. The robot is equipped with DC Motors, the chosen line follower sensor is the picamera and for the obstacle detection, a time of flight sensor was applied.

Since DC Motors are common components in engineering projects that involve process control, it is necessary for any student in this area to understand their concepts, construction and applications. This paper focuses on a series of Laboratory Experiments that were carried out in an Entry Level Unit of the Integrated Master Degree in Electrical and Computers Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, named Project FEUP. In this class, mandatory for all students, they learn to how use these motors, from basic concepts to the estimation modeling. The paper presents the developed kits that students use, the simplified model and examples of the experiments performed in some classes.

In this paper it is described the prototyping of an instrumented chair that allows to fully-automate the “Timed Up and Go”, the “30-Second Chair Stand” and the “Hand-Force ” tests assessment. The presented functional chair prototype is a low cost approach that uses inexpensive sensors and the Arduino platform as the data acquisition board, with its software developed in LabVIEW. The “Timed up and go test” consists in measuring the time spent in the task execution of standing up from a chair, walk three meters with a maximum speed without running, turn a cone and going back to the initial position. The “30-Second Chair Stand” test consists in counting the number of completed chair stands in 30 seconds. It are agility, strength and endurance tests easy to setup and execute although they lack of repeatability, whenever the measures are taken manually, due to the rough errors that are introduced. The “Hand-Force” test consists in measuring the hand strength, the relevant data are the peak and average values of several tests. The referred data is important in order to evaluate hand rehabilitation treatment results.

This paper describes the sensor and actuator modeling of a realistic wheeled mobile robot simulator. The motivation of developing such simulator is to produce a personalized versatile tool that allows production and validation of robot software reducing considerably the development time. The mobile robot simulator was developed in object pascal with its dynamics based on the ODE (open dynamics engine), allowing to develop robot software for a three wheel omnidirectional robot equipped with Infra-Red distance sensors and brushless motors.

This paper describes a joint trajectory optimized controller for a humanoid robot simulator following the real robot characteristics. As simulation is a powerful tool for speeding up the control software development, the proposed accurate simulator allows to fulfil this goal. The simulator, based on the Open Dynamics Engine and GLScene graphics library, provides instant visual feedback. The proposed simulator, with realistic dynamics, allows to design and test behaviours and control strategies without access to the real hardware in order to carry out research on robot control without damaging the real robot in the early stages of the development. The joints controller techniques, such as acceleration, speed and energy consumption minimization are discussed and experimental results are presented in order to validate the proposed simulator.