The summer school is completed with an official certificate, signed by Silesian University of Technology authorities and tutors leading the classes, confirming the acquired skills and gained knowledge.
Have You ever wondered what it takes to build and run a wheeled mobile robot? Or maybe You have some technical skills, but You would like to get a deeper understanding of all the robot’s subsystems? Do You seek for experts who present You the knowledge regarding such a complicated system in a simple, systematic and step-by-step way? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then the summer school prepared by the tutors of Department of Mechatronics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Silesian University of Technology is just for You. Join us for 2 weeks of intensive training to dive into the world of mechatronics and emerge with a set of new skills and knowledge highly appreciated in the modern industry.
What is the cost of the summer school?
The discount is decided on the date of making the payment.
Key dates
The number of students participating in the summer school is limited and decided by the order of applications.
Details and FAQ
What does the cost include?
The cost includes:
- Cost of the classes.
- Accommodation for 14 days in the dormitories of Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, just a few minutes walk from the Department of Mechatronics.
- Breakfast and lunch on working days (from Monday to Friday) during the stay in Gliwice.
- Administrative services.
The cost DOES NOT include:
- Transport to and from Gliwice
- Visa cost
What is the summer school about?
The general idea of the classes is to present a mobile robot as a mechatronic system, consisting of 4 interconnected systems: mechanical construction, electrical drive, electronics and microprocessor-based controller and a control system written in form of a program realised by the controller. Each subsystem will have a part of the classes devoted to it, but a special effort will be devoted to show how those systems intermingle and cooperate. The aim is to show students how the robot can be treated as a whole, greater than the simple sum of all its subsystems.
There is also a very practical aim of the classes – every student will be given the task to build, program and run a mobile robot. As simple as it sounds, along this way there are many obscure topics and hidden problems. Overcoming them, with the help of tutors, is the true goal of the summer school, as solving all those issues will give You the insight and understanding of every aspect of the classes.
Who are the classes for?
To fully benefit from the summer school, You should have:
- a basic knowledge in mathematics (trigonometry, algebra, basics of calculus),
- a basic knowledge in physics (mechanical systems, electrical current, basics of material science, basics of optics),
- basic programming skills – not obligatory, but definitely will be very handy,
- a set of soft skills, particularly an open mind and the ability to work in a team,
- an ability to speak fluently in English – mandatory.
Considering all of the above, the classes are intended for undergraduate students of technical studies, especially connected to electrical or mechanical engineering. However, an advanced high school students or simply a robotics and mechatronics afficionados are also warmly welcome.
How are the classes organized?
Classes will be divided into 4 main topics, addressing 4 subsystems that the mobile robot can be considered to be composed of: mechanical design, electrical drive, electronics and microprocessor controller and control system. Every topic will have its own module realised during 15 didactic hours (1 didactic hour = 45 min) and consisting of:
- Lecture – 4 didactic hours – presented online, during which tutor will give a key concepts and relevant knowledge required to understand and work with a given subsystem,
- Seminary – 4-7 didactic hours – realised in laboratory in Gliwice, during which tutors will present solutions to basic, practical problems. The solutions will then be implemented by the students to the robot that they will be working on under tutors’ supervision,
- Laboratory – 4-7 didactic hours – realised in laboratory in Gliwice, during which students will use the acquired skills and knowledge to solve given tasks by themselves, with only a small help from the tutor.
During the seminar and laboratory classes students will be divided into small project sections consisting of 4-5 students. Whole group will consist of 30 to 40 students. Classes are lead in English. During contact classes in Gliwice the classes will be divided into morning and afternoon classes, with a lunch break in the middle of the day.
What are the modules of the summer school?
Classes are divided into 4 modules. Planned subjects and tasks are listed below.
- Mechanical construction of a robot
The aim of part 1 of the summer school is to teach students about the mechanical construction of mobile robots. Students will be familiarized with mobile robots, tools for designing their mechanical construction and documentation. The primary objective will be modeling of the additional part – the camera holder, that would be printed with the previously presented additive manufacturing method.
Lecture: A brief overview of the mobile robots: —including their types, applications, and structures—will be provided throughout the lecture to familiarize students with the topic. However, the lectures would be mainly focused on the CAD system.
- Introduction to the CAD system – Inventor: basic tools for designing individual parts of the mobile robot
- Assembly tools for parts of the mobile robot – degrees of freedom, joints and constraints
- Introduction to the documentation of the mechanical construction
- Introduction for 3D printing
Seminary: During the seminar classes students will prepare a CAD model of the mobile robot based on the documentation. Students will propose a design concept of the camera holder in the mobile robot that will be realized in CAD System. Printing configurations and designed parts will be set up for the additive manufacturing process. The proper documentation for the camera holder will be prepared. Throughout the seminar classes students will be guided by the lecturers.
- Work on the CAD model of the mobile robot in the Inventor software –0,5h
- Work on the CAD model of the additional mechanical parts of the mobile robot -2h (gripper,casing)
- Model of the additional mechanical parts preparation for the 3D printing –0,5h
- Preparation of the documentation – 1h
Laboratory: During the laboratory classes students will be printing the camera holder using additive manufacturing process and assembling the parts of the mobile robot. During the 3D printing students will be guided by the lecturers. During the assembly process the support of the lecturers will be provided if needed.
- 3 D printing of the additional mechanical parts
- Assembly of the mobile robot
- Electronic control of a mobile robot
Lecture: During lecture students are familiarized with different types of microcontrollers and families, methods of power supplying microcontrollers and other electronic devices with different power supply levels, conversions of signal levels between logic 3,3V or 5V and other like 12V or 24V for one directional and bidirectional signals, utilizing external interrupts for signal detection and counting external signals and at last basics of serial protocols utilized in microcontroller systems.
- Basics of microcontrollers, families (AVR, STM, other),
- Power supply of mechatronics systems with division into logic and actuation parts,
- Input and output signals – programming, signals, signal level conversions and button connections as user interface,
- External interrupts,
- Serial protocols – family of RS-232, I2C, SPI,
Seminary:
During the seminar students are familiarized with practical approach of programming, in first step they will work with external interrupts for button state detection, in next step blocking and non-blocking time procedures are presented for different task, the last task is serial communication for data exchange and debugging tasks. One directional and bidirectional communication is shown.
- External interrupts – practical approach,
- Functions,
- Time procedures – blocking and non-blocking programming framework,
- Serial communication
Laboratory: The laboratory consists of three exercises which gives mechatronics device. The servomotor will be used for actuation an ultrasonic sensor, in second task signals from the ultrasonic sensor are collected using two different protocols and lastly simple radar with serial communication and data presentation utilizing computer as user interface.
- Servomotor controlling,
- Ultrasonic distance meter utilizing two different protocols,
- Simple radar application witch serial visualization.
- Electrical drives of small mobile robots
The aim of part 3 of the summer school is to present the required theoretical background and develop engineering skills for the students to be able to construct and operate an electrical drive of a small robot. Topics regarding control theory and power electronics will be demonstrated in scope of this task, but the main focus of this part will be the electrical machinery driving the robot’s wheels.
Lecture:
During the lecture a required theoretical background will be presented to students. Practical examples will enable the students to find a link between the given information and solution of practical engineering problems in electrical drive of a robot.
- Physical background of creation of electromagnetic force and torque.
- Construction and principle of operation of small electrical motors – PM excited DC machine and BLDC motor.
- PWM modulation of current in the windings of a machine as a mean of controlling its electromagnetic torque. Power electronic circuits used to supply electrical machinery. H-bridge as a circuit for DC machine armature current control.
- Basics of control theory. Closed-loop control systems. PID algorithm as a basic control mechanism.
Seminary: During the seminar classes students will be guided by the lecturers to prepare a drive system consisting of one DC machine, able to control its angular velocity accordingly to the setpoint value given by the user. The system will be driven by a microcontroller that the students will know from the earlier part of the summer school.
- Assembly of the DC machine supply and control circuit. Supply the armature of the machine with voltage of variable mean value by the use of H-bridge and PWM outputs of a microcontroller – 1 h
- Addition of the feedback signal by measuring the angular velocity of the DC motor – 0,5 h
- Preparation of the interface to communicate measured value of the velocity to the user and to read a setpoint value of it given by the operator – 1 h
- Implementation of the P, PI and a PID controller of the angular velocity of the drive – 1,5 h
Laboratory: During the laboratory classes students will apply the knowledge and skills to move the robot using an electrical drive consisting of 2 DC machines connected to the wheels of the robot. Students will work mainly on their own, with the support of the lecturers if their assistance is needed.
- Extending the program prepared during the seminar part to control the angular velocity of 2 motors instead of 1. – 1,5 h
- Preparation of the procedures to move a robot in a basic fashion: moving it forwards, backwards, turning it. – 1 h
- Derivation and applications of ideas to control the robot’s trajectory consisting of linear fragments based on the prepared procedures. – 1,5 h.
- Experiments to achieve more complicated shapes of the trajectories – moving around the circle, bending turns, accelerating and decelerating. – 1,5 h
- Control of the position of the robot based only on the control of the angular velocity of the electrical drives. Finding out the advantages and limitations of such an approach. – 1,5 h
- Measurement and control system of a mobile robot
The final module of the summer school will provide the introduction to mobile robots’ localization, path planning and navigation techniques. The following theoretical topics will be briefly presented.
Lecture:
- Mobile robot localization
- Sensor noise and aliasing
- Error model for odometric position estimation
- Path planning techniques
- Obstacle avoidance algorithms
Seminary: The seminary will cover the topic of path planning, especially graph construction and search approach. The following topics will be realized together be an instructor and the groups of students.
- Visibility graph,
- Voronoi diagram
Laboratory: The laboratory will be focused on practical implementation of chosen navigation algorithms. Especially obstacle avoidance algorithms will be implemented by students themselves and the results will be compared by different groups of students. All the work will be done under the supervision of an instructor.
- Bug algorithms, i.e. Bug1, Bug2
- Tangent Bug
- Vector field histogram
Where is the Summer School organised?
The classes will be held in the “Laboratory of intelligent building and construction infrastructure” in the Department of Mechatronics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Silesian University of Technology.
Classes will be organized at the end of July 2025, that is 14.07.2025 – 25.07.2025 in Gliwice.
