For several years, here at the IUT de Cachan we have been using micro-controllers during the first semester of the DUT GEII university program. Our students take part to a line-follower robot competition, that we have named “Gamel Trophy”, which takes place every January, at the end of the first semester.

Students are provided a microcontroller-based card which they have to program in order to control the robot.

This card is also used during practical works. This project is realized in groups of 6 students, since practical constraints do not allow us to provide each student a card.

Every year, the Concours National de Robotique de Vierzon, a national robotics contest, allows the “Gamel Trophy” winners to compete with other DUT GEII first year students from other universities. Concurrently, a local competition is organized, the “super finale du Gamel Trophy”, where also 2nd year students compete in a more complex context, related to the final project for the completion of their university program.

 

 

Providing a simulator allows the students to work individually on their projects and on practical assignments, both at school and at home. For this reason, we have chosen only open software tools. Our objective here is to let you discover these tools and to guide you through the use of the simulator. This will be the occasion, also, to recall a few notions on the working principles of the micro-controller.