Abstract
Tohoku University has been offering a project-based hands-on program to the first year of graduate level (MSc) students. The program was initiated under the support from ministry of education, culture, sports, science and technology (MEXT), Japan in 2005, and designed so that the students can learn how to make a mechanical system work in a real world through the experience of a short-term project with a small size of group members. The goal of each project is, for example, to develop a model airplane that can fly autonomously, to develop an autonomous mobile robot that can travel and reach a given destination in outdoor field, or to develop a robot system for a world championship. In order to achieve their goals, the students experience a number of trials and errors. They also learn the importance of the communication among the members, the consequence of the scheduling and time management, the hardship of the troubleshooting, and finally the joy of the success. In this paper, the author describes some examples of such hands-on projects conducted both in domestic and international education programs.
