Deutsch Intern
Chair of Computer Science VII - Robotics and Telematics

Description

Tele experiments with mobile robots


Within the scope of this project, our department provides 6 tele-experiments with mobile robots for the Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern (VHB). The experiments are using real hardware like the MERLIN or TOM robot and the design of the learning units allows the students an autonomous learning. The students require only a normal web-browser with a JAVA-VM to operate the hardware placed at the University of Würzburg. 

To accomplish the experiments we provide tutorials of the theoretical basics, exercises, test questions, and simulations. During the experiment, the hardware is controlled by a JAVA applet and the sensor data is returned to the student 

The lack of real hardware at other Universities detains students from experimenting with real hardware. Thus, this course closes this gap and allows students of the VHB, the University of Würzburg, and the students of all project partners to use our hardware via the internet. The following figures present the car-like robot MERLIN and the differential drive robot TOM:

MerlinTOM
MERLIN (Mobile Experimental Robot for Locomotion and Intelligent Navigation)TOM (TeleOperated Machine)

Our department gained knowledge in prior projects in the area of tele-education and uses this experience for the current project. Thus, students of the VHB and the partner Universities can profit by this course:

  • For students of natural science and engineering science, these experiments are the connection between the theory and the practical applications
  • Expensive hardware is used more efficient and can be used by several Universities.
  • Experiments with robots provide an interesting topic for a broad spectrum of lectures during the basic studies.