Daran robot, a reconfigurable, powerful, and affordable robotic platform for STEM education

Mingfeng Wang; Ruijun Liu; Chunsong Zhang; Zhao Tang; Mingfeng Wang; Ruijun Liu; Chunsong Zhang; Zhao Tang

doi:10.3934/steme.2021019

STEM Education

2021, Volume 1, Issue 4: 299-308. doi: 10.3934/steme.2021019

Previous Article Next Article

Case study

Daran robot, a reconfigurable, powerful, and affordable robotic platform for STEM education

Mingfeng Wang ^{1
,
,},
Ruijun Liu ^{2
,},
Chunsong Zhang ^{2
,},
Zhao Tang ^{2
,
,}

1.
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Brunel University London, London, UB8 3PN, United Kingdom
2.
Daran Ltd., Tianjin, 300192, China; 1597255167@qq.com (R.L.); cszhangtju@163.com (C.Z.)

Academic Editor: Giuseppe Carbone

Received: 01 October 2021 Revised: 01 November 2021

Robot and programming education, as a key part of STEM education, is attracting more and more attention in the education industry. In this paper, a novel open-sourced educational robotic platform, Daran robot, is proposed with key features in terms of reconfigurable, powerful, and affordable. As an entry-level robotic platform, the Daran robot consists of three individual robots, which are a Mecanum-wheeled robot, a three-wheeled robot, and a 4-DoF robot arm. Both graphical and Python programming environments are developed for students with different entry levels. Thanks to the reconfigurability, four classic constructions of the Daran robot are presented with corresponding case studies, based on which the students can practically learn basic knowledge of sensing and control technologies.
- STEM education,
- robotic platforms,
- programming education,
- mobile robots,
- robot arms
Citation: Mingfeng Wang, Ruijun Liu, Chunsong Zhang, Zhao Tang. Daran robot, a reconfigurable, powerful, and affordable robotic platform for STEM education[J]. STEM Education, 2021, 1(4): 299-308. doi: 10.3934/steme.2021019

Related Papers:

Abstract

Robot and programming education, as a key part of STEM education, is attracting more and more attention in the education industry. In this paper, a novel open-sourced educational robotic platform, Daran robot, is proposed with key features in terms of reconfigurable, powerful, and affordable. As an entry-level robotic platform, the Daran robot consists of three individual robots, which are a Mecanum-wheeled robot, a three-wheeled robot, and a 4-DoF robot arm. Both graphical and Python programming environments are developed for students with different entry levels. Thanks to the reconfigurability, four classic constructions of the Daran robot are presented with corresponding case studies, based on which the students can practically learn basic knowledge of sensing and control technologies.

References

[1]	Xie, Y., Fang, M. and Shauman, K., STEM education. Annual review of sociology, 2015, 41: 331-357. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071312-145659 doi: 10.1146/annurev-soc-071312-145659
[2]	Zhou C, Li Y., The focus and trend of STEM education research in China-visual analysis based on Citespace. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2021, 9(7): 168-80. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2021.97011 doi: 10.4236/jss.2021.97011
[3]	Elkin M, Sullivan A, Bers MU. Programming with the KIBO robotics kit in preschool classrooms. Computers in the Schools, 2016, 33(3):169-86. https://doi.org/10.1080/07380569.2016.1216251 doi: 10.1080/07380569.2016.1216251
[4]	Mio: https://www.clementoni.com/en/61893-mio-the-robot/. Accessed 17 September 2021
[5]	Cue: https://www.makewonder.com/. Accessed 22 September 2021
[6]	Fischertechnik: https://www.cedutech.com/. Accessed 22 September 2021
[7]	Peng, H. and Huang, Z.C., Design of a welding robot based on Fischertechnik combination model platform. Advanced Materials Research, 2013,619: 384-387. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.619.384 doi: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.619.384
[8]	Lego: https://www.lego.com/zh-cn/product/robot-inventor-51515. Accessed 22 September 2021
[9]	ROBOROBO: https://www.roborobo.cn/startpage#. Accessed 22 September 2021
[10]	Kurniawan A. Arduino Nano A Hands-on Guide for Beginner. PE press; 2019.
[11]	Shigemi, S., Goswami, A. and Vadakkepat, P., ASIMO and humanoid robot research at Honda. In: Goswami A., Vadakkepat P. (eds) Humanoid Robotics: A Reference. Springer, Dordrecht, 2018, 55-90. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6046-2_9
[12]	Matatalab: https://matatalab.com/zh-hans/product. Accessed 22 September 2021
[13]	Chen, J. Research on design and development of tangible programming curriculum in primary school based on computational thinking -take Matatalab tangible programming robots as an example (in Chinese), Master Thesis, Shanghai International Studies University, 2021.
[14]	WeeeMake: https://www.weeemake.com.cn/weeebot-mini. Accessed 22 September 2021
[15]	DFRobot: http://www.dfrobot.cn/?tag=dfrobot. Accessed 22 September 2021
[16]	Kurniawan A. Arduino Nano A Hands-on Guide for Beginner. PE press; 2019.
[17]	Raspberry Pi Zero W: https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-zero-w/. Accessed 17 September 2021
[18]	Sudhakara, P., Ganapathy, V., Priyadharshini, B. and Sundaran, K., Obstacle avoidance and navigation planning of a wheeled mobile robot using amended artificial potential field method. Procedia computer science, 2018,133: 998-1004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2018.07.076 doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2018.07.076

Reader Comments

Your name:*

Email:*
© 2021 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)