A Model-Based Approach for Robotics Education with Emphasis on Embedded Systems

Typically, universities with a focus on technical sciences provide courses where students have to design control systems, to implement these control systems on embedded hardware and to verify the functionality of their implementations. Hence, the students work in groups and implement practical demonstrators based on given problem statements. In order to design, implement, and test robotic applications, it is mandatory to utilize expertise within the field of robotics and the field of embedded systems. The combination of expertise within both fields (robotics and embedded systems) is a highly demanded skill set, which is required to work for companies with focus on aviation, automotive, and even emerging applications for agricultural technology. The technical complexity of these applications is increasing almost exponentially, which requires abstract model-based approaches to ease the design flow of such implementations. This paper introduces a model-based approach for students within robotics and/or embedded systems degree programs. Moreover, this paper describes the state-of-the-art workflow to implement problem statements within the field of robotics and embedded systems (tools, approach and test), gives and overview of the model-based approach for students within these field of applications, and shows the integration of the results into courses based on a control system model.