Case Study: Technische Universiteit Eindhoven achieves campus-wide hands-on, real-time experimentation in its engineering curriculum with MathWorks

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven Integrates Experimentation into the Engineering Curriculum

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) needed to teach experimentation as a core engineering capability while students shared a limited set of lab hardware and required the ability to prepare and analyze experiments offsite. To meet this challenge, TU/e partnered with MathWorks and provided notebook computers with campus‑wide access to MathWorks products including MATLAB, Simulink, Simulink Coder, and the Symbolic Math Toolbox.

MathWorks tools were preloaded on student laptops and used as the infrastructure for real‑time experiments, code generation, external‑mode tuning, and data analysis; about 150 first‑year and 100 upper‑year students in control courses now run real‑time targets from their notebooks, design controllers for inkjet printers and robotic arms, and compete successfully in RoboCup and Formula Student. The result is stronger, lasting understanding of control theory through hands‑on application, experimentation instilled as a core problem‑solving approach, and the rollout of a more advanced, multidisciplinary curriculum.

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

René van de Molengraft

Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering