Robobo DREAM H2020

The adopt a robot initiative of the DREAM project has the following objectives:

- To target non-expert users (e.g. children) to start dabbling with robots

- To provide an application scenario implying a real robot and humans interacting with it

- An experience with the cognitive architecture in real life scenarios

To reach these objectives we have created an Educational Robotics project called The Robobo Project, so the students can interact with more realistic robots, using more advanced features like those included required in a cognitive architecture. The Robobo Project is based on a hardware platform called Robobo, and a set of STEM lessons supported on this platform, which are realized through a programming environment.

Robobo

The Robobo hardware is made up of a wheeled base that transports a smartphone, which provides Robobo with high level sensing, communications and processing capabilities, and that controls the base actuators. The smartphone allows the development of lessons using more complex sensing modalities, like computer vision or speech recognition, together with high processing capabilities to execute them on-board. This permits proposing projects closer to the real applications that robotics demands nowadays, with a high degree of human-robot interaction (HRI) and using more realistic sensors, so students start to deal with them early on.

Mechanically, the ROBOBO platform is divided into two elements: the main platform and the pan-tilt unit that supports the smartphone. The main platform contains the circuit boards, infrared sensors, batteries, docks for add-ons and the pan-tilt unit. The platform is driven by two wheels which are powered by two geared CC motors. The platform communicates to the smartphone by means of a Bluetooth module together with a series of firmware programs whose function is to abstract the low-level control into an API that the smartphone can use.

The software architecture of The Robobo Project is a key aspect to serve as an educational and entertainment tool for teaching programming, robotics, and STEM disciplines across a wide range of ages. The result is a completely modular architecture that allows the easy extension of the robot with new features and allows users to program the robot using very different approaches that suit a variety of educational levels, like block programming, Java language or the Robot Operating System (ROS).

The Robobo platform will be available for schools in October 2017 in the form of educational packs that will include 4 robots, a set of STEM lessons and a complementary material like 3D printed accesories (a clamp, a pen holder) or colored objects.

Robobo is developped at the University of Coruna, in collaboration with local industrial partners. Robobo plays a role in the dissemination plan of the DREAM project. The Robobo platform is property of the MINT company, an spin-off of the University of Coruna. MINT has been awarded with the first prize in the Vodafone Connecting for Good Galicia initiative for startup companies, which is funded by the Vodafone Foundation and the GAIN (regional innovation agency)

Learn more on Robobo: http://www.theroboboproject.com/

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