Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 326 de 957
computing applications developed by the authors. The basic use of such applications is
included in seminars as is latterly stated. By this way, students can analyze more complex
problems whose analytical solution would require a long, repetitive and, consequently,
tedious mathematical work.
Two different types of seminars classes are considered: first one is dedicated to the
resolution by the student of certain relevant exercises of the problems collection with the
professor assistance. During this activity, students face directly with the problem
resolution revealing the potential misunderstood concepts. From this information, the
professor can establish alternative activities that enhance the understanding of such
concepts. Second ones are those activities, developed during the teaching period, that
provide to the students a complementary formation of the subject contents, for instance,
the use of diverse software applications such as Mathcad® or dynamic simulation
software (Autodesk Inventor® for the analysis of any robot, or Robostudio® for the
analysis of ABB robots). The use of such software applications enhances the students´ selflearning.
In addition, these activities let to introduce basic issues of robot programming in
Rapid (ABB programming language), very useful for the development of the practice with
the robot ABB IRB 140. These seminars are planned under a purely practical point of view
with a direct and active role of the students during the seminar. For these reasons, these
classes should be carried out in the computing classroom.
Laboratory practices represents the student’s first contact with an industrial robot, and
allows a direct visualization and check of the obtained results from both points of view:
theoretically throughout the analytic resolution of the problem (problem classes) and
throughout the use of the diverse computer tools. These activities are performed in small
groups of 15 students that are subdivided in 5 groups of 3 students during the practice
class. Next, a description of the proposed practices is detailed:
• Practice 1: Technical specifications of robot ABB: The main objective of this
practice is to have students become familiar with the robot ABB IRB140
throughout the development of simple activities. These activities consist in
searching information in the technical specifications of the robot and, when
possible, compare it with the real ABB IRB140 robot: identify the different
components of the industrial robot, the manipulator axes and types of movement
applying the movement (Fig. 2a) axle by axle with the flexpendant unit (on-line
working). Therefore, a basic knowledge of the use of the flexpendant unit for the
direct control of the robot is required. Next, they must decide if a series of
positions of the extreme element of the robot are accessible or not according to the
robot working space that they must find out inside the technical specifications
book (Fig. 2b).
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011