2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This work describes five vertically integrated lab modules in a mechatronics engineering program based on myCobot robotic arms by Elephant Robotics. Engineering Education literature strongly suggests that robotics labs attract students to engineering. Multiple labs with the same mechanical robotic hardware create scaffolding effect for learning.
The required courses involving myCobot robots are the first-year course EN 101 Introduction to Engineering, the third-year course EN 362L Introduction to Mechatronics Lab, the fourth-year course EN462L Industrial Robotics Lab, the fourth/fifth-year course EN 513 Artificial Intelligence, and the fourth/fifth-year course EN563 Intelligent Robotics. These courses span our BS and MS programs in mechatronics engineering. While Elephant Robotics manufactures a variety of robots, this work focuses on their myCobot 280 series. These are small (work envelope radius of 280 mm), light, RRRRRR, electrically powered (60W) robots that can carry a 250 g payload. The robots can be equipped with a camera and an electric gripper or a suction cup. This robotic architecture is standard across the series. The flexibility of myCobot robots stems from the variety of the controllers used (Arduino, M5stack, Raspberry Pi, or Jetson Nano) with addition of an auxiliary controller (Atom M5), as well as the software including various operating systems (Ubuntu, Windows, and macOS), programming environments like Robot Operating System (ROS2) shell or Visual Studio, computer languages like myBlockly, Python, or JavaScript, and libraries like myCobot for Python, OpenCV, and TensorFlow. This allows great flexibility in customization for different robotic labs suited to different student educational levels.
The Introduction to Engineering course is structured to allow each professor in the program to meet with students and demonstrate some interesting aspects of the courses they teach. An Arduino-based robot is sufficient for a short robotic demonstration for this course. In class, robot programming can be quickly demonstrated using myBlockly drag-and-drop programming language. Introduction to Mechatronics Lab introduces labs that build students’ programming skills with microcontrollers. Arduino-based myCobot robots are sufficient for this application. The cross-listed required course Industrial Robotics Lab introduces typical robotic tasks like material handling, packing, palletization, welding, painting, etc. A more powerful, Raspberry Pi based myCobot running Python on Ubuntu can be used. However, not to duplicate resources, a myCobot 280 Jetson Nano is used in this and in other higher-level courses. Students program pick-and-place tasks in Python. The Intelligent Robotics course is offered to senior-standing undergraduate (elective) and first-year MS Mechatronics Engineering students (required). The course uses myCobot 280 Jetson Nano robot to introduce ROS2 shell. Students learn how to program more complicated robotic tasks like sorting. They also learn how to use cameras for part localization and recognition. Finally, the Artificial Intelligence course offered to graduate students uses myCobot 280 Jetson Nano with OpenCV and TensorFlow for solving image recognition and classification problems as well as simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problems.
Quantitative evaluations of student learning outcomes, as well as qualitative student responses addressing the above robotic labs show their positive impact on students’ learning and attitudes.