Abstract
Since DC Motors are common components in engineering projects that involve process control, it is necessary for any student in this area to understand their concepts, construction and applications. This paper focuses on a series of Laboratory Experiments that were carried out in an Entry Level Unit of the Integrated Master Degree in Electrical and Computers Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, named Project FEUP. In this class, mandatory for all students, they learn to how use these motors, from basic concepts to the estimation modeling. The paper presents the developed kits that students use, the simplified model and examples of the experiments performed in some classes.

Abstract
In this paper the proposal of a low cost high performance educational mobile robot is described. The robot is based on an Arduino, applied in the low level control, while the high level control loop is carried out by an RPI running an object pascal application. The described robot was prototyped in order to have a competitive participation in the Robotic Day Line Follower 2017 competition, taking advantage of the RPI capabilities. The RPI allows the use of higher performance sensors, when compared with the most common standard approaches based on a single 8 bit RISC micro-controller, having as disadvantage the inevitable robot size increase, which compromises in certain situations the robot maneuverability and increases the power consumption. The robot is equipped with DC Motors, the chosen line follower sensor is the picamera and for the obstacle detection sonar sensors are used. © CLAWAR Association.

Abstract
Nowadays, industrial robots are still commonly programmed using essentially off-line tools, such as is the case of structured languages or simulated environments. This is a very time-consuming process, which necessarily requires the presence of an experienced programmer with technical knowledge of the set-up to be used, as well as a concept and a complete definition of the details associated with the operations. Moreover, considering some industrial applications such as coating, painting, and polishing, which commonly require the presence of highly skilled shop floor operators, the translation of this human craftsmanship into robot language using the available programming tools is still a very difficult task. In this regard, this paper presents a programming by demonstration solution, that allows a skilled shop floor operator to directly teach the industrial robot. The proposed system is based on the 6D Mimic innovative solution, endowed with an IMU sensor as to enable the system to tolerate temporary occlusions of the 6D Marker. Results show that, in the event of an occlusion, a reliable and highly accurate pose estimation is achieved using the IMU data. Furthermore, the selected IMU was a low-cost model, to not severely increase the 6D Mimic cost, despite lowering the quality of the readings. Even in these conditions, the developed algorithm was able to produce high-quality estimations during short time occlusions.

Abstract
Throughout this paper, the model, its parameter estimation and a controller for a solution using a DC motor with a gearbox worm, coupled to a non-rigid joint, will be presented. First, the modeling of a non-linear system based on a DC Motor with Worm Gearbox coupled to a non-rigid joint is presented. The full system was modeled based on the modeling of two sub-systems that compose it—a non-rigid joint configuration and the DC motor with the worm gearbox configuration. Despite the subsystems are interdependent, its modelling can be performed independently trough a carefully chosen set of experiments. Modeling accurately the system is crucial in order to simulate and know the expected performance. The estimation process and the proposed experimental setup are presented. This setup collects data from an absolute encoder, a load cell, voltage and current sensors. The data obtained from these sensors is presented and used to obtaining some physical parameters from both systems. Finally, through an optimization process, the remaining parameters are estimated, thus obtaining a realistic model of the complete system. Finally, the controller setup is presented and the results obtained are also presented. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Abstract
The Robot@Factory Lite (R@FL) is a competition held at the Portuguese Robotics Open that aims to present a problem inspired by the deployment of autonomous mobile robots on a factory shop floor. This paper proposes an approach to transform this competition according to the Industry 4.0 concept using the Wi-Fi to attribute orders to the mobile robot. The main contribution of this paper is to address a Supply Chain Management (SPM) of the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) that will inform the tasks to the robot so that it can schedule. It is presented a new hardware architecture that should be able to read the information of the parts through Wi-Fi in a client-server methodology. It also includes encoders that allow to feedback the wheels rotation and can be used to estimate the odometry.

Abstract
The following paper presents an improved, low cost, non-rigid joint that can be used in both robotic manipulators and leg-based traction robotic systems. This joint is an improvement over the previous one presented by the same authors because it is more robust. The design iterations are presented and the final system has been modeled including some nonlinear blocks. A control architecture is proposed that allows compliant control to be used under adverse conditions or in uncontrolled environments. The presented joint is a cost-effective solution that can be used when normal rigid joints are not suitable.