Enhancing technical skills of control engineering students in robotics by using common software tools and developping experimental platforms

In this paper, we expose a successful approach of a course project aiming to improve technical skills of engineering students by encouraging them to use common software tools and developing experimental platforms. The course is dedicated to advanced undergraduate control engineering students. Only two experimental platforms, among twenty projects, developed by the students as part of the course are exposed. The two projects use LabVIEW programming environment, its data acquisition platform and a wide-ranging set of tools for analyzing, displaying and storing data. The main objective of such education approach is to produce qualified engineers who are ready for innovation in research and industry careers, able to share results and collaborate with international projects. Recruitment results have shown that employers have more confidence in the technical abilities of our students for creating new business opportunities which could enhance their recruitment criteria.