Supervisors info:
Χαράλαμπος Πατρικάκης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Ηλεκτρολόγων και Ηλεκτρονικών Μηχανικών, Πανεπιστήμιο Δυτικής Αττικής
Summary:
The rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years has created the conditions for the widespread dissemination of Digital Twin technology in various industries, as the latest makes possible the digital representation of a device or process. While this technology is widely used by industry, little effort has been devoted to education. However, global companies have already developed Digital Twin applications for educational purposes, aimed at younger ages.
Due to the limited Digital Twin training systems available for compulsory education, this dissertation proposes a prototype Digital Twin system, applied to the teaching of robotic systems and automation. The word robot etymologically comes from the Czech word robota, which means work (Wallén, 2008). It was established with today's terminology, as a machine that can act either under the control of a human or autonomously, by programming it. A robotic system is an intelligent system, which, using sensory systems, can recognize various situations, warn and act. This work also focuses on such a system, but for the sake of simplicity and understanding of the concepts, emphasis is placed on a specific situation. This is a case study, where the robotic system with the help of sensors detects the distance and an obstacle, a case that is implicitly connected to motoring where corresponding sensor systems are found, such as automatic braking in cars. The Lego WeDo 2.0 kit for robotics and the Scratch online programming platform were used to support this system. A prefabricated robotic system will be given to the students, who will then have to build in the physical environment an integrated automated system with specific functionalities, after first practicing and building the digital twin (Digital Twin) of the robot in the virtual environment that will be developed with the Scratch software. Students will have the opportunity to work with the Digital Twin environment and simulate the functionality of their project before building the physical Lego device, thus avoiding errors in the physical object. In addition, they can see the possibilities of using computers and virtualization technologies to diagnose problems in the real world as well (by checking for human errors and preventing them early, while showing them the importance of standardization and compliance during testing and controls.
This prototype system was presented to experts (educators and engineers who specialize and utilize automation and robotics systems) through a list of videos, which present the operation of the application and scenarios of use of the physical model in real conditions. The evaluation was carried out using an electronic questionnaire, in order to investigate the educational value of such a system, its usefulness, its scope and any improvements required, and to draw conclusions that would help in the comprehensive presentation of a pilot application, ready to participate in an educational intervention (as a next stage). The evaluation yielded positive results regarding the educational value of the application in the teaching of robotic systems and automation. In addition, from the comments proposed, as part of the evaluation, the possibilities for improving the system as well as future extensions of the application emerged.
Keywords:
Digital Twin, Robotics, STEM, Automation, Lego, Scratch
