A heterogeneity-enabled development system for educational mechatronics

Abstract

Mechatronics is emerging as a leading trend in the current engineering scene. Hence, educational platforms are needed in order to train engineers for this new job market demand. At present time, the existing educational systems that deal with mechatronic aspects, like robotic, control or automation systems, lack of a systematic methodology of development. This deficiency translates into closed training platforms, where it is difficult to plug in new components at convenience. Extending any system with different high- and low-level components that allow the student to understand mechatronics from different perspectives is complicated within such approaches. This paper presents a development system that provides a basic model, framework and automated tools for building mechatronic platforms. Our system, that can be applied to different fields (like mobile and industrial robotics, automation systems, real-time systems, etc.), is also scalable, producing from simple mechatronics systems to complex ones. We describe a case of use where our development system has been used for educational robotics, combining LEGO Mindstorms with research-level robotic platforms.