Learning Robotics for youngsters - the RoboParty experience

Abstract

The involvement of children and adolescents in robotics is on demand by the many events and competitions of robotics all over the world. This non-deterministic world is more attractive, fun, hands-on and with real results than computer virtual simulations and 3D worlds. It is important, by different reasons, to involve people of all ages in an area that some consider the future of mankind and an opportunity to increase the low rate of engineers globally. Robotics competitions at this level are essentially based on teaching motion and programming skills by using Lego™ based robots and a set of challenges to overcome. This paper presents a different approach that is being used by Minho University in order to attract STEM candidates into these fields, with visible success and excellent results. The event is called RoboParty® and teaches children, adolescents and adults, from any area, how to build a robot from scratch, using electronics, mechanics and programming during three non-stop days.