SBIR Phase II: Bluebird: Integrated IoT for Educators and Learners

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目开发了一个低成本的门户，用于实践探索，并为教育工作者和学习者提供物联网（IoT）基础知识。该项目的总体目标是通过一种替代的、面向未来的方法来设计连接设备，改变当前的STEM领域，并向广大学生介绍复杂技术的创造性应用。网络物理系统——通常被称为物联网——正在开辟新的信息通道，并将很快成为从医药到出版等所有行业的基础。这些概念需要在STEM课程中教授，但今天在K-12课堂上甚至很少被提及。最终产品将有助于完成NSF的使命，即通过构建未来的技术，培养年轻人领导科学创新并拥有成功的职业生涯。该二期项目开发了一种无与伦比的教育工具，使用户能够构建简单而完整的物联网系统。该产品揭示了物联网的底层架构，并引导用户了解电子、协作编码、数据安全和社会影响的概念。主要的技术创新是：1)设计了具有板载通信组件的小尺寸、低成本硬件；2)配套的软件平台，支持与多个网络设备协作编码，同时保持最高级别的安全和隐私功能，以保护学生数据。目前，EdTech市场上的物联网系统有几层定制技术和过时的组件。该项目提供了广泛访问的硬件和软件物联网构建模块，功能齐全。学生将设计通过赋予物体属性、情感和行为来远程激活它们的项目。此外，他们将了解项目的社会影响，因为他们考虑对象的属性如何在网络范围内变化和响应，并在端到端物联网系统中发明因果关系。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project develops a low-cost gateway for hands-on exploration and advances knowledge of Internet of things (IoT) fundamentals for educators and learners. The overarching goal of the project is to transform the current STEM landscape with an alternative, future-forward approach to designing connected devices, and to introduce a wide range of students to creative applications of complex technologies. Cyber-physical systems - commonly referred to as the Internet of things - are paving new information pathways and will soon become the foundation of all trades from medicine to publishing. These concepts need to be taught in a STEM curriculum but today are rarely even mentioned in a K-12 classroom. The end-product will help fulfill the NSF mission of preparing youth to lead scientific innovation and hold successful careers by building the technologies of the future. This Phase II project develops an unparalleled educational tool enabling users to build simple yet full-cycle IoT systems. The product exposes the underlying architecture of IoT and leads users through the concepts of electronics, collaborative coding, data security, and social impact. The main technical innovations are: 1) the design of small footprint, low-cost hardware with onboard communications components; and 2) the accompanying software platform that supports collaborative coding with multiple networked devices, while maintaining the highest level of security and privacy features to protect student data. Currently, IoT systems in the EdTech market have several layers of custom-built technology and outdated components. This project offers widely accessible hardware and software IoT building blocks with full functionality. Students will devise projects that activate objects remotely by giving them attributes, emotions, and behaviors. Additionally, they will gain awareness of the social implications of their projects, as they consider how the objects' attributes change and respond within the scope of a network and invent cause-and-effect interactions in an end-to-end IoT system.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.