Traditional and project- and team-based education in mechatronic and robotic systems design

Basically, education in engineering design has to focus, on the one hand, on impartment of theoretical knowledge as well as, on the other hand, on gaining practical experiences. But additionally, teaching and education has to adequately cope with the fact that technical products and systems are becoming increasingly multidisciplinary. Best examples are mechatronic and robotic systems. Such products can effectively be developed only by a team of engineers and designers. The involved team members mostly have different background, knowledge and experiences. Consequently, already during their education students have to be adequately prepared for team-based work to be able to understand, communicate and work with the other team members. Hence, distinct team and soft skills gain significant importance. This paper reports on our educational concept combining traditional and advanced methods to gain, on the one hand, systems- and subject-related as well as, on the other hand, practice-related, personal and social competency. At its core are small-scaled design-and-build projects standing out due to their integrated approach.