Diffusion of Robotics through Line Follower Robots

Autonomous robots are intelligent machines capable of performing tasks without continuous and explicit human interference in their movements. Line follower robots, as the name suggests, are a class of autonomous robots that identify and follow a trail. The line follower robot has been a tool used by the Tutorial Education Program of Electrical Engineering of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, to promote the diffusion of robotics to superior, high school, middle and elementary students. The three main forms of diffusion used are the Autonomous Robot Competition (CoRA), the Line Follower Robot Workshop, that teaches how to develop a line follower, and the event "Engineering in the Schools", which is a university extension project that promotes exhibition of playful technological prototypes for public school students. In this article, we present the methodology that has been used to promote the teaching and diffusion of robotics in different degrees of teaching, and the results that have been achieved in this process.