Robotic Competitions: Teaching Robotics and Real-Time Programming with LEGO Mindstorms

A laboratory activity started a few years ago within a course of Foundation of Industrial Robotics for the Master Degree in Automation Engineering at the Engineering School of the University of Bologna. The goals were on one side to drive students to acquire practical knowledge on mobile robotics, on the other to teach them how to write efficient code for real time control of automatic machines and robots. The tasks assigned to the students required them to mechanically design and program autonomous robots to be used in a competition among teams. Because of its low-cost, the modularity and the possibility of building several different devices, the Lego Mindstorms Kit has been adopted. With respect to the software, the Java-based firmware LeJOS has been selected as a tool to teach how to develop structured software. The experience has being very positive both for the students and the teaching staff. Besides acquiring many technical skills, the students felt involved in practical activities, thus increasing their interest for the subject.