SBIR Phase I: Bluebird: Integrated Internet-of-Things for Education

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一个易于使用的物联网（IoT）平台，称为“蓝鸟”，用于K-12科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）教育。该项目将采用以工艺为导向的STEM教育方法，打破性别障碍，吸引来自不同背景的学生。 据估计，65%的小学生长大后将从事目前尚不存在的工作。这种新的劳动力将是被称为“第四次工业革命”的结果，由物理，数字和生物领域的技术融合带来。该项目的目标是开发一个物联网技术生态系统，为学生进入这些行业做好准备。即将开发的平台将通过提供一个负担得起的和学生友好的替代设备来破坏当前的商业格局，这些设备对于初学者来说要么昂贵，要么过于具有挑战性。 由此产生的产品平台将服务于全球智能教育和学习市场，预计到2021年将增长到5860亿美元。该项目的智力价值是开发一种“智能”教育工具，使教育工作者和学习者能够控制技术塑造他们生活的方式。这一创新将消除学生获得信息网络和以人为本的设计素养的概念，实践和经济障碍的主要障碍。 为了实现这一目标，该团队将研究和开发一个平台和一个易于使用的设备，以克服在课堂上提供物联网体验的技术挑战，在课堂上，无线互联网通常是不可靠的，学生的安全和隐私必须得到保障。 该项目的主要目标是：1）为物联网开发一个课堂就绪的框架，包括符合教育要求的课程; 2）为平台设计和构建低成本、低功耗的硬件、固件和协议; 3）设计和实现一个移动的应用程序，以促进通信和编程。 这项研究的预期结果是一个平台，为K-12课堂提供物联网工具和技能。该项目的设计和制造开辟了一个新的市场，因为蓝鸟用户可以制作自己的物联网想法，产品和服务。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop an easy to use internet-of-things (IoT) platform, called "Bluebird", for use in K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. This project will employ a craft-oriented approach to STEM education, which breaks down gender barriers and engages students from diverse backgrounds. It is estimated that 65% of primary school children will grow up to work in jobs that do not yet exist. This new workforce will be the result of what is being referred to as the "fourth industrial revolution", brought on by a fusion of technologies in the physical, digital, and biological spheres. The goal of this project is to develop an ecosystem of IoT technologies that prepare students for these industries. The platform to be developed will disrupt the current commercial landscape by providing an affordable and student-friendly alternative to devices which are either expensive or overly challenging for beginners to adopt. The resulting product platform will serve the global smart education and learning market, which is expected to grow to $586 billion by 2021.The intellectual merit of this project is to develop a "smart" education tool that will enable educators and learners to control the ways in which technology shapes their lives. This innovation will eliminate the major hurdles that create conceptual, practical, and economic barriers for students to gain literacy of information networks and human-centered design. To achieve this goal, the team will research and develop a platform and an easy-to-use device that overcomes the technical challenges of providing IoT experiences in the classroom, where wireless internet is often unreliable, and the security and privacy of students must be safeguarded. The key objectives for this project are 1) to develop a classroom-ready framework for IoT including curriculum that adheres to educational mandates; 2) to design and build low-cost and low-power hardware, firmware, and protocols for the platform; and 3) to design and implement a mobile application to facilitate communications and programming. The anticipated result of this research is a platform that provides K-12 classroom access to IoT tools and skills. The design and manufacture of this project opens up a new market as Bluebird users craft their own IoT ideas, products, and services.