Using LEGO NXT Mobile Robots With LabVIEW for Undergraduate Courses on Mechatronics

Author

GÒmez-De-Gabriel, Jesús M. ; Mandow, Anthony ; Fernández-Lozano, Jesús ; García-Cerezo, Alfonso

Author_Institution

Dept. Ing. de Sist. y Autom., Univ. de Malaga, Malaga, Spain

Volume

54

Issue

1

fYear

2011

Firstpage

41

Lastpage

47

Abstract

The paper proposes lab work and student competitions based on the LEGO NXT Mindstorms kits and standard LabVIEW. The goal of this combination is to stimulate design and experimentation with real hardware and representative software in courses where mobile robotics is adopted as a motivating platform to introduce mechatronics competencies. Basic LabVIEW examples are proposed for three case-study laboratory practices. These are implemented with the NXT Toolkit and the NXT Direct Command programming libraries for standalone and remote execution, respectively. The application of this instructional material has been tested in two different experiences with senior undergraduate engineering students. A description of the courses as well as an assessment of student results are also included.

Keywords

educational courses; mechatronics; mobile robots; software libraries; virtual instrumentation; LEGO NXT mindstorms kits; LEGO NXT mobile robots; Lab VIEW; NXT direct command programming libraries; mechatronics; remote execution; undergraduate courses; Engineering education; LEGO Mindstorms NXT; LabVIEW; mechatronics; mobile robots; project-based learning; robot programming;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Education, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9359

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TE.2010.2043359

Filename

5430870