Abstract
The implementation of the European Project Semester at the University Politehnica of Bucharest has outlined the importance of developing soft skills through project-based learning for 21st century engineering learners. This chapter describes the project conducted by a team of four multinational students in 2018. It aimed to develop soft skills (language, written and oral communication, organization and time-management, research and inquiry, self-assessment and reflection, group participation, and leadership) as well as to foster the necessary professional tools for a smooth insertion into the labor market. The development of a 3D-printed robotic arm with IoT capabilities has proved a useful didactic approach in this sense and, at the same time, an efficient way to meet the future economic and technological demands of our changing world. The main goal was to design an affordable robot arm so that people could buy for any application desired.
TopBackground
It is worth mentioning that promotion of international employability among engineering graduates is one of the key objectives of European Higher Education. Moreover, there is a growing need to prevent youth unemployment and foster educational methods likely to facilitate their transition from education to work. Likewise, Technical Higher Education needs to link engineering education to the needs of industry by means of a learning-by-doing approach. Hence, the European Project Semester (EPS) proves an innovative training program that addresses the new professional demands for the future engineers. The program has been designed in compliance with the new learning outcomes established by the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area.
EPS is a program offered by a consortium of European universities in 12 countries throughout Europe (Romania, Spain, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Norway, Belgium, Portugal, Finland) to students who have completed at least two years of study. EPS is crafted to address the design requirements of the degree and prepare engineering students with all the necessary skills to face the challenges of today’s world economic and technological advancements. Furthermore, EPS is a mixture of Project Related Courses and Project organized/problem-based Learning.
Students work in international and usually interdisciplinary teams of three to six students and most of the projects are also cross-disciplinary. Some projects are done in cooperation with business partners and industries, and others more academic. Hence, the main objective is to train students from different countries and different disciplines to work together in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary groups. The students work together to execute an integrated engineering-design-and-business project, focusing on: the development of personal competences, especially the ability to work and communicate within cross-cultural groups and the interrelated work of several educational disciplines like mechanical & electrical engineering, design engineering, information technology, business & management etc.
The main competences modern engineering must develop are: teamwork, interpersonal skills, the ability to work in an international team with students of different disciplines and nationalities. It is widely acceptable that an engineer today must be able to cope with a broad scope of disciplines such as: economics, management, communication, languages and a solid training in interdisciplinary and international teams (Andersen, 2004).
The University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (UPB) became an EPS provider in 2013, at St Polten -Austria, when it was admitted in the consortium. UPB has agreed to implement the EPS program in compliance with the “10 Golden Rules” established by the consortium (European Project Semester, 2021).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Internet of Things: Different electronic devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data – these devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled. AU20: Reference appears to be out of alphabetical order. Please check
3D Printing: Manufacturing process which enables the creation of physical 3D solids of objects using a series of layered development framework, where layers are laid down in succession to create a complete 3D object by a 3D printer.
Microcontroller: Compact electronic device made from an integrated circuit including a processor, memory, and input/output peripherals.
Degree of Freedom (DoF): The number of independent parameters, in a mechanical system, that can define its configuration – parameters that determines the state of a physical system.
Forward Kinematics: It is a branch of kinematics that studies and analyses where the exact position of the end-effector would be given by the certain angles provided to the robot actuators.