Engineering and arts in robotics projects at universities: Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru as a case study

Nowadays, the development of robotics demands a holistic approach in which engineering and non-engineering fields work together, exploiting their skills and unique knowledge in order to address modern problems through innovative solutions. Under this premise, in 2013 the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, known as PUCP, decided to aim its efforts to promote the synergy and collaborative work between engineering and humanities with the purpose of achieving research and educational goals for the institution and its students. In this paper, the initial stage of this program is presented through the development of robotic projects by the faculty of Engineering, in collaboration with the faculty of Art and Design. The development process of 5 robotics projects during the last 3 years are presented and analyzed. These projects comprise a sand cleaner robot, a social designed social sUAV, a desktop robot, conceptual designs of social robots, and a humanoid Robot. As a result of the work between engineering and Art students, research and educational goals could be achieved, reflected in paper and patents generation, along with institution recognition and students professional career development. The projects' results and lesson learned during this experience between engineering and humanities are presented and discussed.