Research meets innovation: romanian VET students bring ideas to life with 3D printing and robotics 💡

Can research skills be developed through hand-on innovation?

At Liceul Tehnologic Székely Károly in Romania, students proved that the answer is a resounding yes.

As part of the R-Xscape project, a dynamic Research Workshop brought together 25 VET students and 5 teachers to explore how research, teamwork and technology can work hand in hand to solve practical challenges. Held on 17 February 2026, the workshop engaged tenth-grade students from Information Technology and Mechatronics, encouraging them to combine their complementary skills in a real-world learning experiences.

🔑Workshop highlights

• 🤖25 VET students and 5 teachers took part in the workshop;
• 🖨️Students designed and 3D-printed accessories for LEGO robots;
• 💡Teams programmed their creations using Arduino, combining engineering and digital skills;
• 🤝IT and Mechatronics students collaborated, learning from each other´s expertise;
• 🔎Activities strengthened research, problem-solving, planning and resource management skills.

The four-hour workshop challenged students to work in multidisciplinary teams to create an additional function or accessory for an existing LEGO robot. Before the event, participants were asked to research or design a 3D-printable model, which they then printed and integrated into their robotic solutions during the workshop.

By combining 3D design, additive manufacturing and Arduino programming, students moved beyond technical tasks to develop essential research competences. Throughout the process, they identified problems, planned solutions, managed resources and transformed ideas into tangible prototypes.

Teachers observed that although students already possessed the necessary technical foundations, the activities also revealed opportunities to further strengthen the research competences outlined in the ResearchComp framework. Most importantly, participants approached every challenge with enthusiasm, demonstrating that practical, project-based learning is an effective way to foster both vocational and research skills.

Feedback from participants reflected the workshop’s success. Students particularly valued:

• 🧠Learning about the 3D printing process;
• 🧑🏻‍💻Programming with Arduino;
• 💭Creating new functions for existing LEGO robots;
• 🔗Collaborating with classmates from different vocational fields.

The workshop also received very positive feedback for its organisation, relevance and hands-on approach, with many participants highlighting the practical learning experience and useful resources provided. The main suggestions for future editions were to allocate more time for the activities and explore different team compositions.

What´s next? 🚀

The Romanian workshop is just one step in the R-Xscape journey. These experiences will contribute to the development of practical resources and methodologies that strenghten research competences, critical thinking and collaboration in Vocational Education and Training (VET). By bringing together hands-on learning, innovation and real-world problem-solving, R-Xscape is helping shape a new generation of curious, confident and future-ready learners.

Stay tuned for more updates as our partners continue exploring how research can become an integral part of vocational education across Europe.