2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This article focuses on the authors’ efforts in developing and delivering a non-credit cobots and automation course within a workforce certification program. The course was designed to be delivered in three stages: an introduction to cobots, interactive e-learning modules offered by the cobot maker, and a hands-on complementary component that included fixed-goal programming and wiring exercises, as well as open-ended ones for workcell development.

After a brief introductory lecture defining the cobot and contrasting it with industrial robotics and its applications, participants were enrolled in the cobot maker’s portal and completed three tracks of modules under the supervision of the instructors. They were the : Core, Pro, and Application tracks. The Core track modules included cobot at a first glance, preparing a task, setting up a tool, creating a program, interaction with external devices, controlling conveyors, safety content, and optimization. Building on the Core track, the Pro track offered program flow, feature coordinates, and force control information. Finally, the Application track encompassed handling of palletizing, screwdriving, and machine tending operations.

After the first two tracks, the hands-on work was gradually introduced, and students learned how to power on and off the cobot, manually jog it, and bring it to its home position. They soon afterwards started following content from the e-modules by setting up the cobot including its tooling, and writing and executing simple programs. With the completion of the third track, students were given the task of reverse engineering a LEGO assembly workcell. Besides a cobot, this workcell was composed of a conveyor, a VEX V5 controller, robot line-trackers, and a color sensor. The line trackers measured the size of each LEGO block involved, and the color sensor determined its color. The VEX controller then conveyed sensor outputs to the cobot by employing multiple relays. The students not only analyzed and understood the cell’s design and its operation but also improved it. They learned about I/O wiring and analog and digital signals.

The second project’s objective was to learn about cobot vision systems and to replace the sensors with a camera. They also completed this task quickly and effectively. Besides introducing additional details of the three stages of this course, the paper exhibits feedback from the participants and elaborates on the approach’s relation to the use of a flipped classroom in traditional engineering college programs. Future works planned by the authors and future directions in workforce development conclude this paper in addition to the skill competencies required in Industry 4.0 and 5.0 environments.