Learning from an initiative — Hands-on robotics workshops by IEEE Student Branch

The present contribution reports initiative of a relatively new IEEE Student Branch involving students in creative activities that build motivation for their future engineering studies. The IEEE Student Branch at Haldia Institute of Technology has always attempted to put more emphasis on hands-on learning and training for fellow students through various workshops and training sessions. As a part of such activity, training sessions on basics of mobile robots are being conducted for the last 3 years. Participation has been from a wide range of backgrounds, from different streams and different undergraduate to post graduate levels. Initial aim of the workshop sessions was to motivate students in design, estimation, fabrication and testing their own ideas of basic mobile robots. During the course of events in last few years, as will be reported in the paper, several interesting findings could be identified. It is felt that in order to perform well in their workplace, as well as to be responsible citizens, students are required to not only develop mastery of a particular subject, but civic, social, interpersonal and workplace skills as well [1]. In addition to reinforcing concepts from earlier and concurrent courses, such workshops can serve as a platform for exposing students to inter-disciplinary topics that appear in greater depth in later courses. Also, students mature in areas such as oral and written communication, awareness of professional ethics issues, and working effectively in a team-based setting. Mixing of students from different disciplines and different grades greatly enhances sense of fellow feeling and team spirit. Such workshops, being conducted by students themselves, increases the sense of belongingness, inculcates maturity, sensibility, leadership qualities among the organizing students [2].