Playful robotics training in everyday school life

Inspiring young people to embrace technology: This is the goal pursued by the plastics specialist and robotics manufacturer Igus with its educational offerings specifically for schools, colleges, and universities. This includes the ReBeL Education Kit: a learning package designed to give pupils and students a playful introduction to robotics using the ReBeL cobot. The education kits are used at the Georg-Simon-Ohm Vocational College in Cologne, among others. This gives students the opportunity to acquire basic programming skills and test practical applications.

From electrical engineering to database knowledge to software development: The training to become an information technology assistant at the Georg-Simon-Ohm Vocational College in Cologne includes a diverse curriculum. This also includes programming robots to provide students with special qualifications in automation technology. "Our robotics class has previously used humanoid robotic systems, but these have become prone to failure over time," explains Kevin Meyer, an electrical engineering and robotics teacher at the Georg-Simon-Ohm Vocational College. "Therefore, we needed a replacement for the old systems and specifically searched for robot arms that were easy to operate and enabled realistic application scenarios." The vocational college finally found what it was looking for with the Cologne-based plastics specialist Igus.

Learn programming with realistic application examples

"We were already familiar with Igus for its energy chains, but during our search, we also came across its low-cost automation offering and immediately scheduled an on-site consultation," explains Kevin Meyer. In the 400-square-meter Customer Test Area, customers can see numerous automation solutions in action and test the feasibility of their planned application together with Igus' robotics experts. The final choice fell on ten ReBeL cobots with six axes, including education kits.

"There are many robots on the market, but the alternatives were either too small or too expensive for our purposes. Ease of use was also important to us." The ReBeL Cobot, weighing just 8.2 kilograms, with a payload of two kilograms and a reach of 664 millimeters, is available in the fully equipped plug-and-play version for just €4,970. The Education Kit includes over 100 hours of learning materials and project boards that are mounted on a work surface. These can be used to program various realistic scenarios: whether sorting containers into a high-bay rack, removing bicycle components from the conveyor belt and inserting them in the appropriate place, or performing quality control on bicycles. The free and license-free Igus Robot Control software also enables easy operation and facilitates entry into robot programming.

Preparing learners specifically for the modern world of work

The ReBeL Cobots and Education Kits have been in use in four robotics classes at the vocational college for a year now. "Most of the students really enjoy working with the robots. Operating them was a challenge for some at the beginning, but in the end, everyone mastered it," says Kevin Meyer. The software is visually very clear and allows students to make small progress quickly. Alexander Mühlens, Head of the Low-Cost Automation division at igus, emphasizes: "Supporting the next generation of robotics professionals is very important to us, so we're always particularly pleased with projects like this. With our broad educational offerings, we want to support schools, colleges, and universities in imparting theoretical knowledge in a practical way and specifically preparing learners for the modern working world."