Key Factors for Freshmen Education Using MATLAB and LEGO Mindstorms

Abstract

Undergraduate engineering courses with strong focus on theoretical concepts often have an adverse effect on student motivation due to a lack of illustrative applications to real–world problems. To identify and overcome this problem we point out educational key factors to design practical laboratories for first semester students using MATLAB and LEGO Mindstorms robots. By means of evaluation results of the freshmen course ”MATLAB meets LEGO Mindstorms” and follow–up projects using the same teaching concept, we show that freshman students can develop creative applications and solutions, even if only first fundamentals have been taught. Using the RWTH – Mindstorms NXT Toolbox for development, beginners foster their programming and engineering skills in a fast and intuitive way. Providing successive tasks and ensuring enough room for creativity, a surprising variety of sophisticated projects is reported by student teams in final presentations and competitions, thus boosting their motivation and interest in future engineering tasks.