MecQaBot: A Modular Robot Sensing and Wireless Mechatronics Framework for Education and Research

TL;DR

MecQaBot is an open-source, modular mobile robotics platform designed for education and research, enabling hands-on learning of sensing, programming, and autonomy over five years with broad student engagement.

Contribution

This paper introduces MecQaBot, a scalable, flexible, and affordable robotics framework that supports practical education and research in autonomous systems.

Findings

Engaged over 240 students across disciplines.

Facilitated teaching of sensing, programming, and autonomy.

Demonstrated successful long-term educational impact.

Abstract

We introduce MecQaBot, an open-source, affordable, and modular autonomous mobile robotics framework developed for education and research at Macquarie University, School of Engineering, since 2019. This platform aims to provide students and researchers with an accessible means for exploring autonomous robotics and fostering hands-on learning and innovation. Over the five years, the platform has engaged more than 240 undergraduate and postgraduate students across various engineering disciplines. The framework addresses the growing need for practical robotics training in response to the expanding robotics field and its increasing relevance in industry and academia. The platform facilitates teaching critical concepts in sensing, programming, hardware-software integration, and autonomy within real-world contexts, igniting student interest and engagement. We describe the design and evolution of the MecQaBot framework and the underlying principles of scalability and flexibility, which are keys to its success. Complete documentation: https://github.com/AliceJames-1/MecQaBot