NRI: Co-Robots for COMPUGIRLS - Culturally Responsive Robotics Education for Underrepresented Girls

在美国，机器人代表着一个每年都在增长的数十亿美元的产业。 目前，代表性不足的人口参与科学、技术、工程和数学领域的程度存在差距。 这种差距在机器人领域尤为严重。这个由马奎特大学领导的项目正在开发一个与文化相关的课程，教女孩编写与人合作的合作机器人或人形机器人。 合作机器人的女童子军计划的重点是让来自资源不足地区的女孩接触合作机器人，使用有效的，文化相关的课程和教学方法。这个机器人教育计划的目的是扩大已经存在的NSF资助的非正式教育计划，女童子军，通过补充这个计划？的课程与人形合作机器人的活动。 项目活动将得到亚利桑那州立大学工程专业学生的支持，他们将担任近同行导师。高中生和大学生之间的合作有望提高女孩对机器人相关职业的兴趣，并将产生合作机器人项目，其功能允许合作机器人与女孩及其社区成员进行互动。合作机器人为女孩服务计划提供了一种具有很大潜力的方法，让女孩参与新兴的合作机器人领域。 协作机器人的功能涉及与人的协作和互动。 预计未来在医疗保健、农业、教育和先进制造等不同领域的应用将越来越重要。 然而，目前大多数K-12机器人活动都集中在基于任务的机器人对机器人比赛和机电机器人。 这些现有的机器人项目在包括女孩方面面临挑战，特别是那些来自代表性不足的人群。该项目的目标是开发和研究一个文化上敏感的合作机器人课程的背景下，女青年和参与有效的人形机器人编程。 所采取的方法是基于早期的研究结果。 文化回应的要素包括让女孩参与社会和技术资产建设的界面，要求她们反思自己在技术和社会两方面的交叉身份。将女孩培养成具有利用技术改善社区技能的技术社会变革推动者，被认为是让女孩参与技术努力的一个重要因素。该项目将采用混合方法的研究设计，以确定参与代表性不足的女孩在文化上响应人形机器人使用文化相关的指令和互动的影响。该研究将通过考虑目前在机器人教育中未充分探索的文化方面来推进合作机器人学科。

Robotics in the U.S. represents a multi-billion industry that is growing yearly. Currently a gap exists in the degree to which underrepresented populations participate in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The gap is especially severe in the area of robotics. This project lead by Marquette University is developing a culturally-relevant curricula to teach girls to program co-robots or humanoid robots that work in collaboration with people. The focus of the co-robots for COMPUGIRLS program is to expose girls from under-resourced areas to co-robotics using effective, culturally-relevant curricula and instructional approaches. This robotics education program is designed to expand the already extant NSF-funded informal education program, COMPUGIRLS, through supplementing this program?s curriculum with humanoid co-robotic activities. Project activities will be facilitated with the support of engineering majors from Arizona State University serving as near peer mentors. Collaborations between high school students and undergraduates are expected to increase girls' interest in robotics-related careers, and will yield co-robot projects with features that allow the co-robots to interface with girls and members in their communities.The co-robots for COMPUGIRLS program offers an approach with a high potential to engage girls in the emerging field of co-robotics. The functioning of co-robots involves collaboration and interaction with people. Applications are expected to grow in significance in the future in such diverse areas as healthcare, agriculture, education, and advanced manufacturing. However, most current K-12 robotics activities are focused on task-based robot-to-robot competitions and electro-mechanical robots. These existing robotics programs face challenges in including girls, particularly those from underrepresented populations. The objectives of this project are to develop and study a culturally-responsive co-robotics curriculum in the context of COMPUGIRLS and involve girls in effective humanoid robotics programming. The approach taken is based on earlier COMPUGIRLS research results. The elements of cultural responsiveness consists of engaging girls at the interface of social and technical asset building in ways that require them to reflect on their intersectional identities both technical and social. Developing girls as technosocial change agents with skills in using technology to improve communities was found to be an important element in engaging girls in technological endeavors. This project will employ a mixed methods research design to determine the impact of engaging underrepresented girls in culturally responsive humanoid robotics using culturally relevant instruction and interactions. The research will advance the discipline of co-robotics by considering cultural aspects currently underexplored in robotics education.