Application of Internet of Things in Online Robotics Class

摘要

Distance/online learning is becoming a necessary form at academic institutions, and the growth in distance/online learning has been outpacing enrollment growth.The pandemic has been even further pushing distance/online learning to the peak based on the census from the United States Census Bureau.According to the data of EducationData.org, 98% of the institutions have moved most of the in-person classes to the online sections.The online robotics classes are also currently provided online across the country.Because the robotics class is a kind of intensive hands-on class, the online course prevents the students from implementing various experiments.The student will suffer difficulties in understanding the advanced concepts and theories.Therefore, it is necessary to let the students have equal chances to practice via hands-on projects.The internet of things (IoT) has been integrated into the robotics classes in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET).The basic idea is to use the internet to implement IoT-based projects that combine wireless sensor networks, online learning management systems, and remote-control techniques to realize the learners' remote collaboration and immersive feeling.In an IoT-based project, a robot spider is taken to show the implementing procedures.This project combined several cutting-edge techniques, including vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping and object detection.The students can have the chance to broaden their horizons of knowledge by using machine learning libraries and tools.In order to demonstrate the efficiency of the IoT application, the statistics of the students' performance were analyzed after the classes over three semesters.The results show that the students' hands-on skills are acquired as desired, their enthusiasm for robotics is improved, and their performance can compare with the in-person sessions.