Skip to main content

EmbedIT – An Open Robotic Kit for Education

  • Conference paper
Research and Education in Robotics - EUROBOT 2011 (EUROBOT 2011)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 161))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Robots have often been used as an educational tool in class to introduce kids to science and technology, disciplines that are affected by decreasing enrollments in universities. Consequently, many robotic kits are available off-the-shelf. Even though many of these platforms are easy to use, they focus on a classical top-down engineering approach. Additionally, they often require advanced programming skills. In this paper we introduce an open robotic kit for education (EmbedIT) which currently is under development. Unlike common robot kits EmbedIT enables students to access the technical world in a non-engineering focused way. Through a graphical user interface students can easily build and control robots. We believe that once fascination and a basic understanding of technology has been established, the barrier to learn more advanced topics such as programming and electronics is lowered. Further we describe the hardware and software of EmbedIT, the current state of implementation, and possible applications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Miller, J., Ward, B., Sienkiewicz, F., Antonucci, P.: ITEAMS: an Out-Of-School Time Program to Promote Gain in Fundamental Science Content and Enhance Interest in STEM Careers for Middle School Students. In: Proceedings of The 8th Intl. Conf. on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications, EISTA 2010 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Rocard, M., et al.: Science Education now: a renewed pedagogy for the future of Europe. EUR22845, European Communities, Brussels (2007) ISBN 978-92-79-05659-8

    Google Scholar 

  3. Piaget, J.: The origins of intelligence in children. International Universities Press, New York (1952)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  4. Piaget, J.: The construction of reality in the child. Basic Books, New York (1954)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Bredenfeld, A., Leimbach, T.: The Roberta Initiative. In: Workshop Proceedings of Intl. Conf. on Simulation, Modeling and Programming for Autonomous Robots (SIMPAR 2010), pp. 558–567 (2010) ISBN 978-3-00-032863-3

    Google Scholar 

  6. Alimisis, D., Moro, M., Arlegui, J., Frangou, S., Papanikolaou, K.: Robotics & Constructivism in Education: the TERECoP project. In: Proceedings of EuroLogo 2007, Bratislava (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bredenfeld, A., Hofmann, A., Steinbauer, G.: Robotics in Education Initiatives in Europe Status, Shortcomings and Open Questions. In: Workshop Proceedings of Intl. Conf. on Simulation, Modeling and Programming for Autonomous Robots (SIMPAR 2010), pp. 568–574 (2010) ISBN 978-3-00-032863-3

    Google Scholar 

  8. LEGO NXT, http://mindstorms.lego.com

  9. Kabatova, M., Pekarova, J.: Lessons learnt with LEGO Mindstorms: from beginner to teaching robotics. AT&P Journal Plus 2, Robotics in Education, 51–56 (2010) ISSN 1336-5010

    Google Scholar 

  10. Menegatti, E., Moro, M.: Educational Robotics from high-school to Master of Science. In: Workshop Proceedings of Intl. Conf. on Simulation, Modeling and Programming for Autonomous Robots (SIMPAR 2010), pp. 639–648 (2010) ISBN 978-3-00-032863-3

    Google Scholar 

  11. ASURO robot, http://www.arexx.com/arexx.php?cmd=goto&cparam=p_asuro

  12. Balogh, R.: Acrob – an Educational Robotic Platform. AT&P Journal Plus 2, Robotics in Education, 6–9 (2010) ISSN 1336-5010

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. The Arduino project, http://www.arduino.cc/

  14. Assaf, D., Pfeifer, R.: Robotics as Part of an Informatics Degree Program for Teachers. In: Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2011, pp. 3128–3133. AACE, Chesapeake (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  15. The Gadgeteer project, http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/gadgeteer/

  16. Phidgets, http://www.phidgets.com/

  17. LEGO, http://www.lego.com

  18. Stokys, http://www.stokys.ch/

  19. Meccano, http://www.meccano.com

  20. The EmbedIT project, http://www.embed-it.ch

  21. Lungarella, M., Hafner, V., Pfeifer, R., Yokoi, H.: Artificial Whisker Sensors in Robotics. In: Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Iida, F., Gomez, G., Pfeifer, R.: Exploiting body dynamics for controlling a running quadruped robot. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, ICAR 2005 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Assaf, D., Pfeifer, R. (2011). EmbedIT – An Open Robotic Kit for Education. In: Obdržálek, D., Gottscheber, A. (eds) Research and Education in Robotics - EUROBOT 2011. EUROBOT 2011. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 161. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21975-7_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21975-7_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-21974-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-21975-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics