Special Issue on Educational Robotics

This is the 2nd special issue on education of robotics & mechatronics on Journal Robotics & Mechatronics. Six years have passed since the previous issue (Vol.23, No.5) was published. This special issue includes nine research papers and two review papers, among which four research papers focus on the utilization of robots in STEM education, which has been spotlighted recently, and programming education for the young. Five research papers propose educational methods with novel, unprecedented ideas, and the two review papers overview technology education in Japan. The review papers focus on STEM education that utilizes a variety of manufacturing methods that have become familiar, and they present a variety of efforts being made in STEM education, programming education in today’s Japan. At present, Germany’s Industry 4.0, Japan’s Robot Strategy, and many other initiatives are being undertaken in the world to promote development technology as it relates to production automation and efficiency. The development of human resources that are capable of working with these new technologies has also gathered public attention, with each educational institution now required to enrich its STEM education. As part of this movement, in 2020, programming education will be added to Japan’s elementary school curriculum, with robots being the focus of the education. This situation indicates that the importance of educational robotics is likely to continue to increase in the future. We expect that this special issue will contribute to the development of educational robotics communities and of human resources that are well prepared in the field of robotics. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all contributors and the reviewers for making this special issue possible.