A Robotics Experimental Design Method Based on PDCA: A Case Study of Wall-Following Robots

Area of Science:

• Robotics Education
• Engineering Pedagogy

Background:

• Existing robotics experimental design methods lack completeness and interoperability.
• Student learning outcomes in robotics can be improved with structured experimental design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a student-oriented robotics experimental design method based on the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) concept.
• To enhance students' learning outcomes, report-writing abilities, and creativity in robotics experiments.

Main Methods:

• Developed an eight-step PDCA-based method for designing robotics experiments.
• Incorporated experimental goals, activities, robot assembly, control, evaluation criteria, and report requirements.
• Implemented a wall-following robotics experiment to demonstrate the method's effectiveness.

Main Results:

• Students using the PDCA method showed significant improvement in completing the wall-following experiment.
• The ratio of students completing the experiment faster than the teaching example increased from 7.14% to 100% over three stages.
• The method stimulated student creativity in robot assembly and programming.

Conclusions:

• The proposed PDCA-based robotics experimental design method effectively improves students' learning outcomes.
• The method encourages active learning, creativity, and practical application of concepts like multi-sensor fusion.
• This approach provides a complete and interoperable framework for robotics education.