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Learning Robotics: a Review

  • Robotics in Manufacturing (JN Pires, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

With the growing interest for STEM/STEAM, new robotic platforms are being created with different characteristics, extras, and options. There are so many diverse solutions that it is difficult for a teacher/student to choose the ideal one. This paper intends to provide an analysis of the most common robotic platforms existent on the market. The same is happening regarding robotic events all around the world, with objectives so distinctive, and with complexity from easy to very difficult. This paper also describes some of those events which occur in many countries.

Recent Findings

As the literature is showing, there has been a visible effort from schools and educators to teach robotics from very young ages, not only because robotics is the future, but also as a tool to teach STEM/STEAM areas. But as time progresses, the options for the right platforms also evolve making difficult to choose amongst them. Some authors opt to first choose a robotic platform and carry on from there. Others choose first a development environment and then look for which robots can be programmed from it.

Summary

An actual review on learning robotics is here presented, firstly showing some literature background on history and trends of robotic platforms used in education in general, the different development environments for robotics, and finishing on competitions and events. A comprehensive characterization list of robotic platforms along with robotic competitions and events is also shown.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. A.Fernando Ribeiro and Gil Lopes contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Electronics and Algoritmi Research Centre, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058, Guimarães, Portugal

    A.Fernando Ribeiro & Gil Lopes

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  1. A.Fernando Ribeiro
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  2. Gil Lopes
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Correspondence to A.Fernando Ribeiro.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Robotics in Manufacturing

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Ribeiro, A., Lopes, G. Learning Robotics: a Review. Curr Robot Rep 1, 1–11 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43154-020-00002-9

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