The integration of robotic sailboats into the Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) Initiative for robotics education

The CDIOTM Initiative is an innovative educational framework providing students with an education stressing engineering fundamentals set in the context of Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) real-world systems and products. The focus of the CDIO Initiative is to produce industry-ready graduates through practice and it has become increasingly popular, especially in engineering education. The CDIO Initiative has used various platforms such as wind turbines and eco-cars for developing the corresponding curriculum of engineering education. This paper aims to introduce and integrate robotic sailboats into the CDIO Initiative through the corresponding curriculum development for robotics education. Initial results of such an approach have demonstrated the suitability as well as the benefits of using robotic sailboats for the CDIO Initiative of robotics education.