A Low-Cost Matlab-Based Educational Platform for Teaching Robotics

Robotics courses play a central role in the electronic engineering curriculum. Those courses provide students with knowledge and skill in multiple aspects of the design, simulation, implementation and operation of systems using robotics technologies for applications in areas such as the industrial, medical, services, among others. This work describes the implementation and application of a Matlab-based platform using low-cost technologies as an educational tool to be included in robotics courses. The platform comprises an Arduino as a target for hardware in the loop (HIL) simulation using Matlab and a 6 Degree of Freedom (DoF) articulated robotic arm. The HIL simulation system differs from computer simulation in such a way that it involves actual hardware and permits controlling the real world actuators and sensors. It was carried out set of experiments aimed to evaluate the platform in the field of human-robot interaction; specifically, through an application to control the robotic arm to follow movements of a human upper limb. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) was used to correlate movement provided by user and the actual movement executed by the robotic arm. Obtained mean measurement errors were RMSE of 4.7 degrees for static validation and 5.3 degrees for dynamic tests.