The ReFiBot makers guide: Fostering academic open science and circularity with a robotic educational kit

Abstract

The advent of robotics in schools and universities curricula are preparing students to encompass new didactic fields. This article presents ReFiBot which is an education robot that has been used to increase the technical literacy on robotics and bring more awareness to open science at Wageningen University. The ReFiBot combines open-source hardware and software, integrated with a chassis made from recycled plastic from fishnets. The ReFiBot was carefully designed to be easily assembled with off-the-shelf electronic parts and programmed using the Arduino IDE. Moreover, a software library is facilitated to ease its adoption in educational activities from any curricula level. The ReFiBot has been mainly used for education but can also be used for research on swarm robotics. The CAD files, components list, software files, and tutorial within this contribution will guide the reader through the assemblage and best practices of this circular robotics kit.

Keywords

• Robotics
• Education
• Circularity
• Open-science
• Recycling
• Low-cost