The ROBORACE contest

The ROBORACE project introduces students to feedback control and systems concepts. The project is aimed at students in their first year of university studies and at young people leaving high school. Without going into mathematical details, the participants learn about the ideas and possibilities of control engineering. Students apply their knowledge by constructing and programming an autonomous LEGO robot, which has to solve a control-related task. The teams compete with their robots in a final public contest. The ROBORACE contest has been held several times. Every year, about 25 teams participate in the event. The contest increases the students´ enthusiasm for control engineering. This claim is supported by a 30% rise in student numbers in control classes during the last two years. The project has proven to be a critical part of undergraduate education in engineering cybernetics at the University of Stuttgart. Considering that every first-year student of engineering cybernetics and students from close to 30 different high schools have taken advantage of ROBORACE, the project has been a big success and a lot of fun.