This systematic literature review explores how the implementation of project-based-learning (PBL) as an experiential pedagogical methodology in engineering education contributes to the development of real-world skills among students. The methodology applied was the PRISMA protocol with searches in two databases in a 24 year timeframe. The research reviewed 54 pieces to explore the contribution of PBL to seven pillars of a holistic pedagogical model comprising the following categories: technology, an integrated curriculum, an international focus, sustainability, a multidisciplinary focus, simulation, and professional environments. Varied PBL developments across these pillars reveal challenges, including aligning with real-world complexities and promoting interdisciplinary integration. Despite obstacles, PBL in engineering shows promise for enhancing students’ skills and channeling the added value of a holistic pedagogical model, despite significant differences in the number of experiences associated with each category. Limitations include restricted article access, emphasizing the need for open science promotion.

The School of Engineering at Universidad Europea de Madrid (UEM) implemented, starting in the 2012–2013 period, a unified academic model based on project-based learning as the methodology used throughout the entire School. This model expects that every year, in each grade, all the students should participate in a capstone project integrating the contents and competencies of several courses. This paper presents the academic context under which this experience has been implemented, and a summary of the work done to design and implement the Project-Based Engineering School at the UEM. The steps followed, the structure used, some sample projects, as well as the difficulties and benefits of implementing the programme are discussed in this paper. The results are encouraging as students are more motivated and the initial set objectives were accomplished.

The aim of this study was to explore the potential of using a social robot in speech therapy interventions in children. A descriptive and explorative case study design was implemented involving the intervention for language disorder in five children with different needs with an age ranging from 9 to 12 years. Children participated in sessions with a NAO-type robot in individual sessions. Qualitative methods were used to collect data on aspects of viability, usefulness, barriers and facilitators for the child as well as for the therapist in order to obtain an indication of the effects on learning and the achievement of goals. The main results pointed out the affordances and possibilities of the use of a NAO robot in achieving speech therapy and educational goals. A NAO can contribute towards eliciting motivation, readiness towards learning and improving attention span of the children. The results of the study showed the potential that NAO has in therapy and education for children with different disabilities. More research is needed to gain insight into how a NAO can be applied best in speech therapy to make a more inclusive education conclusions.

The effectiveness of social robots such as NAO in pedagogical therapies presents a challenge. There is abundant literature focused on therapies using robots with children with autism, but there is a gap to be filled in other educational different needs. This paper describes an experience of using a NAO as an assistant in a logopedic and pedagogical therapy with children with different needs. Even if the initial robot architecture is based on genericbehaviors, the loading and execution time for each specific requirement and the needs of each child in therapy, made it necessary to develop “Adaptive Behaviors”. These evolve into an adaptive architecture, appliedto the engineer–therapist–child interaction, requiring the engineer-programmer to be always present during the sessions. Benefits from the point of view of the therapist and the children and the acceptance of NAO in therapy are shown. A robot in speech-therapy sessions can play a positive role in several logopedic aspectsserving as a motivating factor for the children.Future works should be oriented in developing intelligent algorithms so as to eliminate the presence of the engineer-programmer in the sessions. Additional work proposals should consider deepening the psychological aspects of using humanoid robots in educational therapy.

This article describes an intrinsic case study of project-based learning (PBL) experience involving an NGO as an external client to promote sustainability competencies. Two research questions are posed: (1) How did this experiential PBL approach impact students learning to develop sustainability competencies by incorporating a responsible engineering perspective? (2) How did college students become engaged with social and sustainable PBL projects when external clients of developing economies were involved? The project-based design involved two subjects in the second year of an Industrial engineering degree. The client was an NGO with an existing project to improve the supply chain logistics of three refugee camps managed by women. Students had to cooperatively develop a sustainable proposal for the NGO with a global mindset. Findings obtained from the analysis of the reflections of students and teachers indicate that this methodology helps students to acquire comprehensively learning outcomes and to develop sustainability competencies. Sustainable and socially responsible engineering were achieved through a methodology that considers the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and engages students in real projects. This approach promotes student awareness on the importance of their actions and their personal behavior as engineers, including a gender perspective, while training them to move towards SDG4 and 5.

A novel calibration method for whole field three-dimensional shape measurement by means of fringe projection is presented. Standard calibration techniques, polynomial-and model-based, have practical limitations such as the difficulty of measuring large fields of view, the need to use precise $z$ stages, and bad calibration results due to inaccurate calibration points. The proposed calibration procedure is a mixture of the two main standard techniques, sharing their benefits and avoiding their main problems. In the proposed method, an absolute phase is projected over marked planes placed at unknown positions. The corresponding absolute phase and marks positions are recovered for each plane location. Using Zhang’s calibration method, internal camera parameters (also called intrinsic parameters) and the spatial position for each plane are computed. Later on, a polynomial fit of depth with respect to the phase is performed. To obtain the absolute position of an object point, the depth coordinate is obtained by means of the polynomial calibration and its absolute phase. Then the lateral coordinates are computed from the depth, the internal parameters, and the pixel coordinates of the imaged point. Experimental results comparing the proposed method with the standard polynomial-based calibration are shown, demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed technique.