Wilfried Lepuschitz

A Survey on Standards and Ontologies for Process Automation

Agent technology and model-based engineering have proven potential in various prototypical implementations and academic environments but are not yet well accepted in industrial practice. However, it is evident that upcoming manufacturing systems need to integrate more rigorous foundations of semantics than currently applied data models and architectures but the conformance with industrial standards is crucial for their acceptance. This paper presents a survey on standards and ontologies for the process domain carried out during the first phase of the project BatMAS, which aims at the integration of a system ontology for providing an extensive knowledge base. On the one hand, the knowledge base should be accessed by an agent-based system for batch process automation and on the other hand, it should provide access for various functionalities of a complete automation solution.

Offering Multiple Entry-Points into STEM for Young People

Enrollment in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math) is not keeping pace with the need. Recent reports indicate a decrease in the number of graduates from STEM fields and a shortage on the job market. Considering these issues, particular attention has been paid developing innovative methods and tools for improved teaching of STEM themes. This work presents an approach involving multiple entry points for young people to engage in the STEM fields. This approach is manifested in the non-profit association Practical Robotics Institute Austria (PRIA) with its activities designed to fill STEM gaps in the Austrian education system and to bring innovative engagement that cannot be found in the classrooms. Thus, STEM literacy is fostered as well as the development of systems thinking, problem solving, and teamwork skills.

ER4STEM Educational Robotics for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Robotics is a popular vehicle to introduce young people to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with various approaches worldwide that use robotics to teach or entertain or both, accompanied by various tools and repositories. However, the stakeholders involved have different goals and methods, thus difficulties in finding common ground. E.g. the focus in most cases is on increasing interest in STEM, but research methods are unspecified or vague; or despite the vastness of offerings, teachers are reluctant to incorporate activities in the classroom. In this paper, we introduce the Educational Robotics for STEM (ER4STEM) project that will realize a creative and critical use of educational robotics to maintain children’s curiosity in the world. An open and conceptual framework will bring three main stakeholders of educational robotics—teachers, educational researchers and organizations offering educational robotics—together through a user- and activity centered repository.

Architectural Overview and Hedgehog in Use

Robotics is a versatile tool for teaching STEM topics, as it supports various disciplines, skill sets and target audiences. However, controllers used in Educational Robotics are often limited in their use cases. In this regard, Hedgehog tries to be flexible by design. This paper introduces Hedgehog’s architecture, currently implemented and future use cases, and experiences from our first Hedgehog workshops.

Hedgehog Light – A Versatile, White Box Educational Robotics Controller

Robotics curricula that include programming generally require a robotics controller as core platform. The controller and its capabilities shape the offered curriculum in terms of programming means, and therefore age appropriateness. A closed, black-box controller also limits the uses outside the context of such a curriculum. The Hedgehog Light controller aims to imply as few limitations as possible by using open source methodology, the open and well-documented Raspberry Pi, a multi-platform protocol and programming interface, and that can mostly be built in fabrication laboratories (fab labs).

Flexible development environment for educational robotics

Robotics is considered to be a powerful tool for teaching STEM especially when employing white-box platforms to build and program robots. In this context, programming environments should be simple and understandable for increasing the learning success and for easing the entry for teachers with non-informatics background. Furthermore, many robotics applications can also benefit from flexibility in the program deployment in contrast to the usual code-compile-download paradigm. To address these issues, this paper presents a flexible programming environment based on a layered robot control architecture, which involves the usage of mobile devices. Source code created on a smartphone or tablet can be downloaded to the robot controller, which organizes the programs having on-board compilation and execution environments. Besides, a versioning system adds to the comfort. The presented approach enables students to intuitively handle their robots, but can also be applied in more sophisticated scenarios where module-based flexible programming is required.

Overview and interim evaluation of the project ROBIN: Robotics for integration

Statistics in Austria show a significantly higher unemployment rate of people with migration background compared to those without such a background. This situation is further aggravated by the increased application of modern technologies that replace jobs with automated systems. People with migration background in Austria tend to have a lower qualification and corresponding jobs that are in higher danger of being automated. This paper presents the concept of the project ROBIN that employs educational robotics for inspiring young people towards engineering and technology. In this context, a focus is specifically put on supporting young people with a migration background. Also the results of an interim project evaluation are presented and a few lessons learned are discussed.