SBIR Phase I: The Brainlink System: A Catalyst for Personal Robotics

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的重点是发明标准，无线电子和多层编程环境，使多个公司的一系列机器人设备能够由公众编程用于教育和娱乐目的。此外，该项目旨在设计和部署一个社区网络学习空间，个人和团体可以宣传，分享和激发创意机器人应用程序。该项目第一阶段的计划是创建一个工作系统- Brainlink，包括一个无线系绳模块，一个连接器和通信标准，该标准是与机器人公司讨论的结果，一个软件环境和一个应用共享网站。一旦完成，该系统将在为期一个月的使用研究中与学生进行测试，并向机器人公司演示，以衡量对最终工作的兴趣。Brainlink系统如果被机器人行业采用，将广泛影响个人机器人市场和计算机科学与工程教育。考虑一下Brainlink系统的重大采用对计算机科学教育的影响。过去的研究表明，许多学生希望计算机科学教育更加面向应用和相关。如果成功的话，年仅10岁的学生将能够为与自己生活相关的特定应用程序编写他们的玩具。此外，该系统提供了一个实用的场所共享应用程序;学生可能会觉得他们创建的应用程序是高度相关的，如果他们可以与数百万人分享他们。经济影响也可能很大：Brainlink可以作为消费机器人市场增长的催化剂。虽然大多数消费者可能不会直接为自己的机器人编程，但让所有机器人都能使用Brainlink，将使这些消费者能够从大量开发人员和学生创建的应用程序中受益。这些应用可以大大提高机器人的娱乐，教育和实用价值，并最终导致该市场的显着增长。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on the invention of standards, wireless electronics and multi-layered programming environments that will enable a range of robotic devices across multiple companies to be programmed by the public for educational and entertainment purposes. Furthermore, this project aims to design and deploy a community cyber-learning space where individuals and groups can publicize, share, and inspire creative robot applications. The plan for this Phase I component of the project is to create a working system - Brainlink, including a wireless tether module, a connector and communication standard that results from discussions with robotics companies, a software environment and an application sharing website. Once completed, this system will be tested with students in a month-long usage study and demonstrated to robotics companies to gauge interest in the resultant work.The Brainlink system, if adopted by the robotics industry, will broadly impact both the personal robotics market and computer science and engineering education. Consider for a moment the implications significant adoption of the Brainlink system would have for computer science education. Past research suggests that many students desire for computer science education to be more application oriented and relevant. If successful, students as young as ten will be able to program their toys for specific applications relevant to their own lives. Furthermore, the system provides a practical venue for sharing applications; students may feel that their created applications are highly relevant if they can share them with millions of others. Economic impacts could be significant as well: Brainlink can act as a catalyst for growth in the consumer robot market. Though most consumers may not directly program their own robots, enabling all robots with Brainlink will allow these consumers to benefit from the applications created by an army of developers and students. These applications could greatly boost the entertainment, educational, and utilitarian value of robots generally and ultimately cause significant growth in this market.