Using STEM to Educate Engineers about Sustainability: A Case Study in Mechatronics Teaching and Building a Mobile Robot Using Upcycled and Recycled Materials

Abstract

Background: Sustainable design means to base design on any systems and methods that can fulfill any of the sustainability goals: reducing waste, recycling plastics, upcycle materials, etc., and having less of an impact on the environment. Therefore, a challenge arises: how to design products based on sustainable design. This research presents a case study, about how students in a university’s design department, used sustainability practices in their projects, to adopt sustainability as a major aspect during the design process of a product. Methods: The researchers used STEM methodologies to educate and guide the students to adopt recycling and upcycling practices to design and develop an educational mobile robot for Educational Robotics and Mechatronics applications. Results: Students were encouraged to develop their problem-solving approaches when developing their designed robots, for a mechatronics project given to them. In this way, the researchers fostered the active and motivated participation of students; an increased interest was found related to several factors, including challenge, competition, group participation, and more. Conclusions: This research aimed to evidence the use of upcycled and recycled materials in product development to fulfill some of the sustainability goals. The research’s results were very promising and has sparked an ongoing research.