Introducing Mechanical Engineers to Microprocessors with Arduino Tank Robots

Abstract

Though microcontroller programming has traditionally been the dominion of electrical and computer engineers, other engineers must be familiar with the capability and integration of microcontrollers for interdisciplinary tasks. Ohio Northern University has started a two-week module on microcontroller programming in the Computer Applications course required for all mechanical engineers. The course begins with programming instruction in Matlab, which is then applied in the microcontroller module. Each student had the in-class use of his or her own Arduino Uno-based track-driven robot.