Currently in the University of Edinburgh, most mechanical engineers have very little exposure to electronic circuitry and programming. However, given the importance of electronics in the modern world, the School of Engineering has a desire to teach mechanical students more about physical computing and practical electronic solutions. This is why designing an educational kit based on an Arduino microcontroller board has been requested in BEng Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Project 4 courses. The project requested is Arduino Edukit for Mechanical Engineers.
Arduino is a microcontroller board which is easy to use and can allow the implementation of electronics in mechanical projects. All the Arduino codes established in this project can be downloaded for free in accordance with one of Arduino purposes: being an open-source platform. |
The project consists of an educational kit containing a set of training tools for teaching mechanical engineers how to use an Arduino Uno board in order to apply this knowledge in their future mechanical projects. This kit has to be easy to use and fit with the mechanical engineering students' needs by explaining how to drive DC or stepper motor as well as reading complex sensors.
The project itself is composed of a ‘Getting Started’ sheet, an ‘Arduino Cheat Sheet'‘, Instructions’ sheets for each project developed and a ‘Go further’ sheet. The main idea was to develop a project based hands-on approach by leaving the students free to learn on their own with some ready to use practical projects and useful sheets summarizing the Arduino basics. |
University of Edinburgh, School of Engineering.
BEng Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Project 4
2013 - 2014
Arduino Edukit for Mechanical Engineers.
Arnaud BAUDRY