Robot competition as a teaching and learning platform

Field Robot Event is an annual student competition for small field robots. A Field Robot project has been seen as a motivating challenge for project-based learning as it results to a working prototype. In Finland the team has consisted of students from different major subjects (mechatronics, automation and agricultural engineering) and interdisciplinary educational goals have been set: 1) to let students apply theoretical knowledge in practice; 2) to teach team working skills; and 3) to get acquainted with robot design. This requires well-planned student guiding and teaching. Dividing the team into separate groups makes schedule keeping hard, decreases working motivation and hinders learning from each other. Dividing education into consequent work tasks enables schedule follow-up and learning evaluation. Too much freedom leads to less learning and a decreased work motivation. Detailed robot specifications have enabled the students to focus on the essential work. Robot building project has been found to be a good platform for learning technology and practising theoretical skills studied in other courses.